Parliament has adopted the 17th amendment to the constitution with 139 votes in favour and 6 against, thereby making it possible to remove the current President of the Republic, Tamás Sulyok. 54 MPs did not take part in the vote.
The constitutional amendment is primarily designed to remove the incumbent president, while also establishing a precedent that could enable similar removals in the future.
On the day after the amendment enters into force, Sulyok's mandate will end, and thereafter Parliament will elect a head of state to serve until the new constitution takes effect, but for no more than five years.
In his speech before the start of the formal agenda, Prime Minister Péter Magyar said it would be a betrayal of the Hungarian nation not to touch the Fidesz-drafted constitution, which he described as "the founding document of the Hungarian Cosa Nostra built by Fidesz–KDNP."
He added that, in his view, under the Orbán governments, everything had been subordinated to one man's will and political survival.
