Hungary’s incoming head of government so despises the nation’s head of state that he is ordering him to step down, or else face expulsion.
Incoming Prime Minister Péter Magyar, who clinched an electoral victory over long-standing premier Viktor Orbán on Sunday, believes Hungarian President Tamás Sulyok is “unworthy of representing the unity of the Hungarian nation” due to his association with the outgoing leader.
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“Following the formation of the new government, President Tamás Sulyok must step down from office,” Magyar said on Wednesday.
The incoming premier is hardly bashful about his loathing, denouncing Sulyok to his face while visiting Sándor Palace the same day.
“I repeated to him that, in my eyes and in the eyes of the Hungarian people, he is unworthy of embodying the unity of the Hungarian nation, incapable of ensuring respect for the law,” Magyar told the press following the meeting.
He said Sulyok responded to his call for resignation “enigmatically,” but assured supporters that his party will take action if the president does not step down voluntarily.
The president is compelled to meet with the incoming prime minister and formally nominate him to his office. The process of forming the next government will then begin.
Sulyok has affirmed to the public that he will “convene the inaugural session of the National Assembly on the earliest possible date following the finalization of the results,” though “preparatory consultations” will begin in the coming days.
The president’s public statements amid Magyar’s demands have been largely dispassionate.
“[Sulyok] is unfit to serve as the guardian of legality,” Magyar wrote on social media alongside a picture with the president. “He is not fit to serve as a moral authority or a role model.”
The Tisza party racked up a solid majority in the Hungarian parliament on Sunday, giving it broad powers to pass legislation and even amend the national constitution.
The next parliament is expected to be convened in early May, and Magyar claims it will immediately prepare laws to remove Sulyok and other Orban-aligned officials from office.
UKRAINE HAS NO ‘UNREALISTIC EXPECTATIONS’ FOR HUNGARY AS IT PITCHES ITSELF AS ALLY TO MAGYAR
President Donald Trump was one of Orban’s strongest international allies and even deployed Vice President JD Vance to stump for the prime minister ahead of the ill-fated election.
Observers wondered whether the White House would spurn the incoming prime minister due to his strong support for Hungarian cooperation within the European Union, but Trump affirmed Wednesday that he considers Magyar a “good man.”
“I think he’s going to do a good job,” the president said.
