It is a 67-year-old jurist, Tamas Sulyok, who will become the new Hungarian president on March 5.
Parliament elected him on Monday.
This discreet man, who has headed the Constitutional Court since 2016, will replace Katalin Novak, the one who caused the scandal.
She had pardoned a convict involved in a child crime case, leading to the most serious political crisis in the government of nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban since his return in 2010. He himself had spoken of a “nightmare” which had brought down the street in mid-February more than 130,000 people according to RTL, a mobilization of an unprecedented scale in ten years.
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National unity was broken by this decision to pardon, the nationalist leader underlined last week, believing that only the inauguration of a new president could “restore unity”.
The first woman to occupy this essentially ceremonial function in the central European country, Katalin Novak, appointed in March 2022, resigned two weeks ago, acknowledging an “error”.
VIDEO.
Resignation of President Katalin Novák, after a controversial pardon
No party affiliation, novice in politics, “self-effacing man”: the personality of Tamas Sulik contrasts with that of Novak, spearhead of Hungary's pronatalist policy, notes Baboles Pek, analyst at the Inanité Intezet research institute .
Very active on social networks, she liked to present herself as a mother juggling her private and professional life and readily appeared during her trips abroad.
“If she behaved like an
influencer
, Tamas Sulyok augurs more of a dull, one could even say boring, presidency – exactly what Fidesz (the party of Viktor Orban) wants,” deciphers the expert.
“Control all those responsible for children’s institutions”
“I think that Hungary needs such a president today,” summarized Viktor Orban as he opened the parliamentary session on Monday, welcoming his “vast experience” in the law and “his undisputed authority”.
“The decisions of the Constitutional Court have shown the way in recent years,” he said, even if some have raised controversies, notably on the right of teachers to strike.
A new head therefore to make people forget the scandal, and also new reforms.
The Prime Minister promised to strengthen legislation on child protection and “to control all those responsible for children’s institutions”.
He called for “tests analyzing the lifestyle, sexual deviance and psychological aptitude” of those working with minors.
Because the pardon, discreetly granted on the occasion of the Pope's visit in April 2023, benefited the former deputy director of a home, sentenced to more than three years in prison for covering up the child criminal actions of his superior. .