Hungary elects ex-supreme court chief as president in break from Orbán era

Hungary's parliament has elected András Baka, a former Supreme Court president and long-time critic of Viktor Orbán's judicial overhaul, as the country's new head of state. Baka secured 140 votes in favour and 6 against, with the Tisza party's two-thirds parliamentary majority ensuring his victory.

The 73-year-old was nominated by Prime Minister Péter Magyar's Tisza party on Saturday and elected on Tuesday to the largely ceremonial role. His appointment marks a symbolic reversal of Orbán's 16-year grip on Hungary's institutions, which ended when Magyar's party won a landslide election in April.

The Orbán connection

Baka's removal from the Supreme Court presidency in 2011 by Orbán's Fidesz government became a defining moment in Hungary's judicial independence crisis. The European Court of Human Rights later ruled that his removal was unlawful. Before his forced departure, Baka had served 17 years as a judge on the European Court of Human Rights.

Magyar said Baka's career "serves as an example of commitment to the democratic rule of law and constitutional principles" and that Hungary needs to be "guided back onto the path of the rule of law and constitutional governance."

A contested transition

Baka replaces former President Tamás Sulyok, who was removed from office last month through a constitutional amendment adopted as part of Magyar's reform agenda. International rights watchdogs criticised Sulyok's removal, noting the irony that Magyar's government used similar legislative tactics to those Orbán employed to consolidate power.

Orbán's Fidesz party and its ally KDNP boycotted the parliamentary vote on Baka, calling Sulyok's ouster "tyrannical" and "illegitimate."

Magyar's first choice for the presidency, chess grandmaster Judit Polgár, had declined the nomination before Baka was selected.