Hungarian Prime Minister Péter Magyar said on Friday that the Tisza Party will recommend three presidential candidates to its parliamentary group for consideration, from among whom the decision will be made as to who will be elected by the National Assembly on Tuesday, 11 August.
Magyar highlighted the ‘lengthy consultation process’ that the party had gone through, with a ‘large number of nominations’ after asking the Hungarian people for suggestions. He noted that there were roughly ten names that could realistically be considered for such an important position. The Tisza leadership discussed these names and is recommending three of them to the parliamentary group.
The prime minister also said that ‘there are no surprises’ among the names. ‘Anyone who has been following the news over the last few days pretty much knows what the situation is,’ he added, probably referring to the social media casting launched by Tisza after its main candidate, chess grandmaster Judit Polgár, rejected Magyar’s offer in July.
The position became vacant after President Tamás Sulyok was removed under the 17th Amendment to the Fundamental Law, passed by Tisza’s two-thirds parliamentary majority on 13 July. Sulyok himself promulgated the amendment despite strongly criticizing his removal, calling it unlawful and a huge discredit to the rule of law. Parliamentary speaker Ágnes Forsthoffer has exercised the powers of the president since his departure.
Promising a broad consultation on 18 July, the day Sulyok signed the amendment, Péter Magyar publicly backed Polgár the next day and said that Tisza would nominate her. His communication caused massive backlash among supporters and confusion within the party, mainly because of the contradiction with the promised consultation. Polgár rejected the offer the following day, saying she did not feel capable of assuming the ‘historic responsibility’ of uniting a deeply divided country. Magyar later acknowledged that the nomination was rushed, attributing the failure to his own communication.
The next day, the social media casting began. Magyar and Minister heading the Prime Minister’s Office Bálint Ruff started publishing photographs with potential candidates without formally identifying them as such, effectively turning social media into an informal testing ground. Lawyer Botond Fülöp appeared first, followed two days later by historian Ignác Romsics. Former Supreme Court president András Baka joined them this week.
The three represent markedly different profiles. Fülöp, better known as Vidéki prókátor, uncovered the 2024 presidential pardon scandal that forced Katalin Novák to resign and helped set in motion Magyar’s rise to power. Romsics is one of Hungary’s most prominent historians and a Széchenyi Prize-winning academic. Baka previously spent 17 years at the European Court of Human Rights before becoming president of Hungary’s Supreme Court.
Of the three, Baka has emerged as the clear favourite in the Hungarian media. Speculation intensified after Magyar published their meeting only hours before Tisza moved to schedule Tuesday’s presidential vote. Index described Baka as the ‘overwhelming favourite’ and reported on Thursday that information from several sources pointed towards his nomination, going so far as to conclude that at this stage ‘only András Baka can knock András Baka out’ of the presidential race.
‘Baka has emerged as the clear favourite’
Choosing Baka would be very useful for Tisza: his mandate as Supreme Court president was cut short by the Orbán government in 2011, in a very similar way to how President Sulyok was removed, through a transitional constitutional provision and an overhaul of the judicial system that transformed the Supreme Court into the Kúria. The European Court of Human Rights later ruled that Hungary had violated Baka’s rights by removing him. Baka’s case is the most frequently cited counterargument when Fidesz attacks the removal of Sulyok as unlawful.
Fidesz labelled Hungary’s new constitutional order ‘illegitimate and authoritarian’ after the 17th Amendment and promised to boycott the vote. Our Homeland nominated energy lawyer Máté Tóth, pointing to his two doctorates and expertise as making him capable of defending Hungary’s constitutional traditions.
Related articles:
At a time when public debate is increasingly polarized and superficial, Hungarian Conservative remains committed to depth, intellectual honesty, and independent conservative thought.
Producing high-quality journalism requires resources. Your contribution helps us expand our coverage, reach new audiences, and keep our content accessible.
Please consider supporting our mission.
