Hungary’s ruling Fidesz party on Thursday the 22nd of February nominated Tamás Sulyok, a lesser known Constitutional Court president, as the country’s new president in an attempt to defuse the political crisis caused by the resignation of the previous head of state, reports Politico.
Hungarian President Katalin Novák, a close ally of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, resigned earlier this month after it emerged that she pardoned a man convicted of involvement in a child sex abuse cover-up, a scandal that sparked protests in Budapest.
Novak’s resignation still needs to be formally approved by a vote in Parliament, but this is likely to take place on the 26th of February when Hungarian Parliament reconvenes.
“[Sulyok] is best poised to embody the unity of the nation,”
Máté Kocsis, head of Fidesz’s parliamentary group, was quoted as saying in a televised interview on Thursday.
Sulyok, who has kept a low profile, was appointed president of Hungary’s Constitutional Court by the Fidesz-led parliament in 2016. Before that, he also served as Austria’s honorary consul from 2000 to 2014 and in 2021 in an interview said he had never been interested in politics.
Given Fidesz’s majority in the Hungarian Parliament, Sulyok’s formal approval is a mere formality.
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