Roiled by scandal, Hungary names new president

Hungary’s ruling party nominated little-known judge Tamás Sulyok as the country’s new president Thursday, seeking to quiet a political crisis that saw the resignation of the previous head of state.

Hungarian President Katalin Novák, a close ally of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, resigned earlier this month after revelations that she had pardoned a man convicted of helping cover up child sexual abuse, with the scandal triggering protests in Budapest. Novák’s resignation is yet to be formally accepted in a vote by parliament, but this will likely happen on February 26, when the legislature reconvenes.

Hungary’s ruling Fidesz party nominated Sulyok, the president of the Constitutional Court of Hungary, as its chosen replacement for Novák.

“[Sulyok] is best poised to embody the unity of the nation,” Fidesz parliamentary group leader Máté Kocsis said in televised remarks on Thursday.

The 67-year-old Sulyok, who keeps a low profile, was appointed president of the Constitutional Court of Hungary by the Fidesz-led parliament in 2016. He also served as honorary consul of Austria from 2000 until 2014, before becoming a member of the Constitutional Court.

“I have never been interested in politics in my life,” he told local media in 2021.

Sulyok still has to be formally endorsed by Hungary’s parliament, but this is largely a formality, with Fidesz holding a supermajority.