BUDAPEST, July 13. /TASS/. Hungary’s parliament has approved a 17th constitutional amendment envisaging President Tamas Sulyok’s removal from office.
According to parliament speaker Agnes Forsthoffer, the amendment was supported by 139 lawmakers, with only six voting against and none abstaining.
The opposition factions of the Fidesz - Hungarian Civic Alliance and Christian Democratic parties skipped the session in protest against the amendment. They claim that it is an unconstitutional and personified document that has been drafted by the new authorities solely in their political interests. Fidesz faction leader Gergely Gulyas has resigned, saying that democracy in Hungary is no more.
The bill was supported by each and every member of the ruling Tisza party led by Prime Minister Peter Magyar. Six lawmakers with the far-right opposition Our Homeland Movement voted against, saying that Tisza is now acting just like Fidesz did during its sixteen-year rule.
Addressing the lawmakers before voting, Magyar once again said that Sulyok should resign for failing to perform his duties as the guarantor of the supremacy of law and turning a blind eye to office abuses by the previous government led by Viktor Orban. The president rejected these claims, saying that the prime minister is behaving in an unbecoming manner and that his actions constituted a "gross violation" of law.
