Hungary’s Magyar threatens legal action if president refuses to resign

BUDAPEST, June 1 (Reuters) – Hungarian Prime Minister Peter Magyar said after meeting with President Tamas Sulyok on Monday that if the president does not resign, the government will take legal action to remove him.

Magyar’s centre-right Tisza party ousted Prime Minister Viktor Orban in a landslide election victory in April and has vowed to unseat some of Orban’s appointees to key public offices over the past 16 years.

Magyar called on Sulyok, who was elected in early 2024 by lawmakers from Orban’s Fidesz party, to resign, accusing him of failing to represent national unity on important issues and serving the interests of Orban and his government. Sulyok refused to resign.

“I told the President that if he maintains his stance and does not resign, I will inform Tisza MPs about our legislative proposals today and we will immediately initiate the necessary procedures,” Magyar said. he said.

He said the legislative process would take about a month and include “the elimination of all puppets” who play a role in “the dismantling of the rule of law and democracy.”

Orban’s Fidesz party accused Magyar of issuing an “illegal ultimatum” and said Sulyok had fulfilled his legal duty, which runs until 2029, and could not be removed from office.

Sulyok previously served as president of Hungary’s supreme court and was also elected to the post by Fidesz in 2016.

In Hungary, the presidency is largely ceremonial, but Sulyok can send laws back to parliament for reconsideration or forward laws to the Constitutional Court, potentially slowing or hindering the Magyar’s reform agenda.

Magyar said his party would use its two-thirds majority in parliament to amend the constitution and other legislation to remove Sulyok.

(Reporting by Krisztina Than and Anita Komuves; Editing by Ros Russell)