Hungary Gets a New President — One Orban Once Pushed Out
Hungary's parliament has chosen Andras Baka as the country's next president. Baka is a former head of the Supreme Court who lost that job in 2011 after speaking out against changes to the court system made by Viktor Orban's government. Lawmakers voted 140 in favour and six against, with no abstentions, in a secret ballot on August 11, 2026. Al Jazeera
Baka, who is 73, will start his new role on August 19. He was put forward by the Tisza party, which controls more than two-thirds of the seats in parliament. That level of control matters because in Hungary, changing the constitution requires a two-thirds vote, so Tisza can make those changes on its own. The nomination was submitted by Tisza lawmakers Magyar Péter, Boda Nikoletta, and Jójárt Erika as document S/482. Parliament met on August 10 and 11 for the election. Hungarian Parliament
Fidesz, the opposition party led by Orban, refused to take part in the vote. This boycott came after Tisza passed a series of constitutional changes that reshaped how Hungary's government and courts work, following Orban's departure from the role of prime minister.
Baka's career is closely tied to the political battles of Orban's years in power. He served two terms as a judge at the European Court of Human Rights, a body that checks whether countries respect basic rights, before becoming head of Hungary's Supreme Court in 2009. In 2011, he was removed from that role after criticising Orban's government reforms, which Baka said threatened judicial independence, the idea that courts should be able to make decisions without pressure from politicians. His removal was part of a wider overhaul of the court system under Orban, changes that drew ongoing criticism from European institutions.
The job Baka is stepping into has itself been changed. He replaces Tamas Sulyok, who was picked by Orban and elected president in early 2024. Sulyok was removed from office by a constitutional amendment in July 2026. He signed the law ending his own term on July 18, 2026, saying society had a "serious loss of confidence" in him. Reuters
The same set of constitutional changes that removed Sulyok also introduced court reforms and allowed parliament to elect a replacement. Tisza also added an eight-year limit on how long someone can serve as prime minister. That rule effectively stops Orban from returning to the job he held for more than a decade. Reuters
The broader context here is that Tisza, the governing party, holds enough seats to change the constitution whenever it wants. It has used that power not only to install its chosen president but also to write new rules, like the prime ministerial term limit, that constrain the political figures it replaced. Picking Baka carries a certain symbolism: a judge whose dismissal from the Supreme Court came to represent the Orban-era court reforms now becomes president under a government that wants to undo or change those very reforms.
For Fidesz, refusing to vote is a way of saying it does not accept the process as legitimate. For Tisza, the 140-to-6 result reflects a parliament where the governing coalition holds a supermajority and the main opposition chose not to show up rather than vote no.
What is less clear is how Baka will use the powers of the presidency. The Hungarian president's role is mostly ceremonial, but the office does carry some real authority, including setting the timing of elections, sending laws to the Constitutional Court for review, and appointing certain officials. A judge with Baka's background and his history of clashing with Orban-era reforms may use these powers more actively than his predecessor, who was seen as doing what the government wanted. The court reforms included in the July constitutional package have not been fully detailed in available sources, but the fact that they were paired with the presidential changes suggests Tisza plans to reshape the courts alongside the presidency, putting Baka's memory of the 2011 reforms squarely in the path of the new reform agenda.
