Overview
- Tisza formally nominated András Baka on Saturday and has scheduled a parliamentary vote for Tuesday that is expected to succeed because the party holds a constitutional two‑thirds majority.
- The main opposition party Fidesz has announced it will boycott the vote and will not put forward a rival candidate.
- Baka was removed as president of Hungary’s Supreme Court in 2011 after he criticized Viktor Orbán’s justice reforms and the European Court of Human Rights later ruled that his dismissal violated judicial independence.
- Prime Minister Péter Magyar first offered the presidency to chess grandmaster Judit Polgár, who declined, and Tisza then used an internal shortlist and secret ballot to pick Baka.
- The presidency is largely ceremonial but carries symbolic weight at a moment of constitutional change after Parliament removed Tamás Sulyok in late July, and Baka’s election is meant to signal a shift toward restoring rule‑of‑law norms.