Hungary moves to block Orbán return to power

What happened

Hungary’s parliament on Monday approved a constitutional amendment barring prime ministers from serving more than eight years in office. The amendment, which passed 135 to 50, was “written to apply retroactively,” effectively blocking former Prime Minister Viktor Orbán from returning to power, Politico said.

Who said what

The amendment, pushed through by Prime Minister Peter Magyar’s Tisza party, also “paves the way for the dissolution” of tools created by Orbán to consolidate his power, Reuters said, including a Sovereignty Protection Office that “stigmatized opposition figures and journalists” and public trust foundations that transferred valuable “state assets” to Orbán’s political party and allies. The legislation was part of Magyar’s promised “crusade for ‘regime change’” after 16 straight years of Orbán rule, Politico said, but would also put a “significant limit on Magyar’s own power, as he vows to restore liberal democracy in Hungary.”

What next?

The bill now goes to President Tamás Sulyok, an Orbán appointee who has refused Magyar’s calls to resign. Sulyok “could attempt to block the measure,” said Ukrainian outlet United24 Media, but Tisza’s two-thirds parliamentary supermajority “has the power to override a veto.”

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