Hungary After Orban Votes to Remove Its President: Is the Cleanup the End of Autocracy, or Just Its New Color?

Hungary after Orban looks completely different - and right now you can see just how much. The Hungarian parliament is debating and voting today and tomorrow on a constitutional amendment that would immediately end the term of President Tamas Sulyok. The party of new prime minister Peter Magyar, Tisza, which holds a two-thirds majority, calls it part of a "cleanup operation" after 16 years of Viktor Orban's rule that ended in April.

Sulyok, president since March 2024, refuses to resign. He argues the amendment "leads to a concentration of power rather than a separation of powers" - a charge that ironically sounds familiar, since that's exactly what was pinned on the Orban era for years. Magyar, for his part, calls Sulyok "Orban's puppet" and says he failed to achieve national unity. If the amendment passes, parliament has 30 days to elect a new president.

And here's where it gets interesting for anyone watching from the Balkans. The new government that came in promising to clean up autocracy - the first thing it does is amend the constitution to remove a man. Orban, now in opposition, called a protest under the slogan "Stop the Tyranny" outside the presidential palace, where thousands turned out. The same man who spent decades building "illiberal democracy" is now shouting against tyranny. The Balkan viewer just nods - we've seen this movie.

Europe isn't staying quiet. Sulyok filed a complaint with the Venice Commission, the Council of Europe body that assesses constitutionality, arguing the amendment doesn't meet European standards. The Commission even sent a delegation to Budapest on July 2 - but the government sped up the procedure without waiting for an opinion. When a new government rushes to change the constitution before Europe can say a word, the question asks itself: is the cleanup the end of autocracy, or just its new color?