Hungary’s parliament elected former Supreme Court chief justice András Baka as the country’s new president on the 11th of August, Reuters reports
It is a symbolic step in Prime Minister Péter Magyar’s efforts to dismantle the strongholds of former Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. Bak was elected to the largely ceremonial post with votes from the center-right Tisza party, while members of the opposition Fidesz party did not participate in the presidential election.
In a speech after taking the oath, Baka criticized the previous government, saying that under Orbán, a single party had taken over the country, the branches of power were not separated and there was no functioning system to hold them accountable for their actions and achievements. He added that building a new future for Hungary requires both justice and selflessness, and said the president’s job is to represent people with different views.
Baka stressed that a new Hungary cannot be built on revenge.
Magyar’s victory in the April election ended Orbán’s 16-year rule, and he promised to restore democratic standards and called on Orbán’s party’s elected or appointed officials to resign.
The removal of former Hungarian President Tamás Sulyok, whom Magyar called an Orbán puppet, was one of the new prime minister’s main goals. Sulyok signed the Tisza party’s constitutional amendments in July that ended his own presidency.
Fidesz deputies abstained from the vote on the new president, having previously said that Tisza had arbitrarily and illegally terminated Sulyok’s presidency. The Magyar party was also accused of tyranny and authoritarian policies, which Tisza denied.
Read also: Orbán calls on supporters to stand up to Hungarian PM’s “tyranny”