Hungary's New Government Picks a President Who Was Once Pushed Out by Orban

Hungary's new governing party, Tisza, has chosen András Baka as its candidate for president. Baka is a former top judge who was removed from his job by Viktor Orban's government in 2012 — a move later ruled unfair by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), an international court that oversees human rights across Europe.

Prime Minister Peter Magyar announced the decision on Saturday, August 8, 2026, on Facebook. He said Tisza's lawmakers voted by secret ballot and called it one of the party's most important decisions so far. Baka, 73, is expected to be approved by Hungary's parliament on the following Tuesday, where Tisza holds a large majority after winning a landslide election in April that ended Orban's 16 years in power.

Why the Presidency Was Empty

The presidency was vacant because Tisza itself emptied it. The party changed the constitution to remove Orban-era President Tamás Sulyok from office. Sulyok then signed the law change that ended his own term, as reported by Reuters on July 18. A Hungarian research group called Political Capital said the parliamentary group agreed Baka's background made him the strongest choice for the office.

Who Is András Baka?

Baka's career gives the choice its meaning. Born in 1952 and living in Budapest, he served two terms as a judge at the ECHR before becoming head of Hungary's Supreme Court in 2009. Two years later, after he publicly criticized Orban's government reforms as a threat to judicial independence — the principle that courts should operate without political pressure — Baka was removed from his post. The ECHR later ruled that his dismissal violated his rights to a fair trial and freedom of expression. The Council of Europe, which oversees the ECHR, said Hungary never fully carried out the ruling.

The Orban government never accepted that ruling. Government statements said Baka's rights were not violated and he was free to express his views. A 2019 government note said Baka kept working as a judge at the Supreme Court and that only his leadership role as court president was ended. Hungary said in 2014 it would review the ECHR decision, but the full changes demanded by the Council of Europe did not follow.

The choice carries a meaning beyond the office itself. Hungary's president has mostly ceremonial duties, with limited power to block or send back laws. But putting someone whose removal became a major international legal case into the presidential seat reverses a specific Orban-era decision that drew years of criticism from European institutions.

Opposition Pushback

Fidesz, Orban's party, is now in opposition and has rejected both the process and the nominee. The party said it would boycott the presidential vote and accused Tisza of acting like dictators. Fidesz called the nomination an "illegal procedure" and described Baka as a puppet controlled by Tisza's majority. The far-right Mi Hazánk party also rejected Baka's candidacy.

The broader context here is one of rapid change across Hungary's institutions. Tisza's April win did not just replace a government. It gave the party the supermajority — enough seats to change the constitution on its own — needed to restructure the presidency, remove the previous president, and install a successor whose life story directly challenges Orban's record on judicial independence. The speed of these moves, from the April election through the constitutional amendment to Baka's expected confirmation within days of his nomination, shows Tisza's ability to push through its agenda without negotiating with the opposition.

For Fidesz, the boycott and the "puppet" label echo the same criticisms that opposition groups and international observers once directed at Orban when he consolidated power between 2010 and 2024. The charge that a ruling party with a huge majority is installing a friendly president is essentially the same critique aimed at Fidesz when it filled the Constitutional Court, the judiciary, and the presidency during its 16 years in power. Whether Baka — a judge whose independence was upheld by the ECHR — actually fits the "puppet" label is something his use of the office's limited but real powers may answer in the coming months.

The vote expected on Tuesday will confirm Baka unless something unexpected happens within Tisza's own ranks. With both Fidesz and Mi Hazánk staying away, the vote will go ahead without any opposition participation, completing a process that started with Tisza's election win in April and has now reached the presidency itself.