The Hungarian parliament voted to impeach the president

Hungary’s parliament voted to oust President Tamás Sülyők, a longtime loyalist of former prime minister Viktor Orbán, who lost power in April after 16 years in power.

Prime Minister Peter Magyar Tisza’s party used a two-thirds majority through the 17th amendment to the constitution to end Suliok’s tenure and the head of the Constitutional Court, Peter Polt.

April 12 was the most dramatic day in parliament since the new government came to power in early May after a stunning defeat to Orban’s Fidesz party.

Sulyok now has five days to sign the amendment – his own political death warrant – or be sent to the Constitutional Court.

If Sulyok mentions it to the court, Majir will initiate legal proceedings against him, which will immediately suspend him from office.

The other option is to leave the power to avoid a constitutional crisis that would benefit the country, which he urged the new government to do.

Current representatives The opposition Fidesz party walked out of parliament ahead of Monday’s vote, accusing Tiza’s party of building a dictatorship.

Fidesz argues that the amendment gives the government the arbitrary power to dismiss any public official with immediate effect.

Peter Rona, the former opposition presidential candidate, told the BBC: “The great irony of the situation is that the Fidesz are corrupted by their own concept of power.”

The 2011 constitution written by Orbán’s government laid down the “winner takes all” principle.

In the year In office from 2010 to 2026, Fidesz reshaped the Hungarian state at will, filling independent government positions with party loyalists – using its own two-thirds majority.

When the results of the election were announced, 141 TISA representatives gave loud applause in the parliament.

The amendment would remove Constitutional Court judges over the age of 70 and would bar three-term parliamentarians from standing again – more than half of current Fidesz MPs.

Former Supreme Court chief Andras Baca told the BBC: “I agree very much with the removal of the president.”

He argued that Hungary was governed by the rule of law from 1989 to 2010. After that, Fidesz seized government institutions and created a dictatorship.

“And now it is very difficult to topple a sophisticated authoritarian regime… it is designed to survive even after electoral defeat,” Baca said.