Hungarian President Tamás Sulyok agreed to step down on 18 July 2026 after signing a change to Hungary's constitution, passed by Prime Minister Péter Magyar's Tisza party, that ended his presidency right away (Reuters; The Guardian).

A constitution is a country's most important set of rules, the ones that define how the government works and what powers each part has. Changing it usually requires a large majority of lawmakers to agree. In Hungary's case, the change said society had a "serious loss of confidence" in Sulyok. The bill was submitted to Parliament on 20 May 2026. During debate on 7 July 2026, lawmakers nicknamed it "lex Sulyok," and the Parliamentary Journal called it a change that went against Hungarian constitutional tradition and the universal rule of law, the principle that everyone, including the government, must follow the law. Parliament passed the amendment on or shortly before 13 July 2026, giving Sulyok five days to sign it or face a formal removal process (Euronews). He signed on 18 July.

Sulyok was a former constitutional court judge elected president in early 2024 by lawmakers from Viktor Orbán's Fidesz party. He called the amendment "a watershed in Hungary's constitutional democracy" and warned it had damaged the rule of law. Orbán, who ran Hungary for 16 years before losing to Magyar's Tisza party in a landslide election in April 2026, condemned the changes on Facebook: "Tyranny is no longer a threat but reality. If this could be done to the president, tomorrow, no one will be safe."

The amendment does more than remove Sulyok. It sets a limit of 12 years for how long someone can serve as a lawmaker, and it sets a retirement age of 70 for judges on Hungary's constitutional court, the body that decides whether laws comply with the constitution. That retirement rule forces court president Péter Polt, an Orbán ally, to step down. Fidesz has seen several high-profile resignations and falling public support since its April defeat. Magyar had publicly said Sulyok was one of Hungary's least popular politicians before the amendment was introduced (Reuters).

Tisza holds a two-thirds majority in Parliament, which is enough to change the constitution without any other party's support and to pass any law it wants. Magyar announced that Speaker Ágnes Forsthoffer will serve as acting president starting Monday, 20 July 2026. Parliament will then elect a new president to serve until a new constitution is adopted or for a maximum of five years.

The parliamentary debate over the amendment took place over at least three sessions: 22 June, 29 June, and 7 July 2026.

The broader context here is a rapid restructuring of Hungary's government after an election. Tisza's supermajority has acted within about three months of taking office to remove a president aligned with the opposition, set term limits on lawmakers, and force the retirement of a constitutional court judge appointed by the previous government. Each step is legal under Hungary's constitutional rules. Together, they add up to a fast takeover of key institutions across the presidency, the legislature, and the courts, done through the official legal process rather than by bypassing the law. Think of it like a new homeowner using the existing house rules to change the locks, reassign the bedrooms, and set new rules for who gets to stay, all within the first few months of moving in.

That matters for how the changes are judged under Hungarian and European rule-of-law standards, even as Fidesz and Sulyok strongly criticize them. Sulyok's warning about rule-of-law damage and Orbán's claim of "tyranny" reflect a real debate over whether it is right to use a large majority to reshape institutions that were filled with people from the previous government. Tisza's answer is in the amendment itself: the reference to public confidence, the term limits, and the judicial retirement age are presented as fixes for the buildup of power that happened during Fidesz's 16 years in charge. Hungary's parliament will now elect a new president under these new rules, with the interim period starting on 20 July.