BUDAPEST – Hungary has been left without a candidate to replace the ousted Tamás Sulyok as president after chess grandmaster Judit Polgár officially declined the government’s nomination.
The vacancy follows the forced departure of Sulyok, an appointee of former Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, whose mandate officially expired at midnight on 20 July under a constitutional amendment adopted by the newly governing Tisza party.
House Speaker Ágnes Forsthoffer is currently serving as interim president, managing state duties until a permanent successor is elected within the constitutionally mandated 30-day window.
Sulyok’s successor will only serve for a maximum of five years, or until Prime Minister Péter Magyar’s promised new Hungarian constitution is adopted.
Despite Polgár’s decision to decline the nomination, sources close to the Tisza party told Euractiv that the governing administration still plans to proceed with the inauguration of a new president on 20 August, Hungary’s national holiday.
