Tisza Party nominates former head of Supreme Court as next president of Hungary

The Tisza Party’s parliamentary group has nominated András Baka, the former head of the country's Supreme Court as president of Hungary, the party has announced following their Saturday meeting where the decision was made by secret ballot.

Although the previous president, Tamás Sulyok’s mandate was supposed to last until March 2029, his term was ended prematurely by the 17th amendment to the Fundamental Law in mid-July. The move was part of the Tisza Party’s campaign promise to remove all “puppets appointed by Fidesz to do their bidding”.

In his post announcing Baka’s nomination, Prime Minister Péter Magyar wrote: “Throughout his entire career, Dr. András Baka has regarded the principle of the separation of powers of paramount importance and has always consistently stood up for the rule of law and judicial independence.

His life’s work exemplifies a commitment to the democratic rule of law and constitutional principles.”

Magyar added that they are convinced that Baka’s “experience and the professional independence he has demonstrated throughout his career are of particular value during this time, as we work together to lay the foundations for Hungary’s new constitutional order.” According to the Prime Minister, during the constitutional process ahead of us, we need a president whose “professional authority, independence, and experience in public law and constitutional matters provide a solid foundation for successfully guiding our country back onto the path of the rule of law and constitutional governance, and for embodying the unity of the Hungarian nation.” —and they consider Baka worthy of the task.

András Baka is a researcher specializing in human rights and minority rights issues. He became particularly well-known in 2011 when he was unlawfully removed from his position as president of the Supreme Court after criticizing the Orbán regime’s plans for reforming the judiciary. He was born in Budapest in 1952 and earned his doctorate in law from the Faculty of Law and Political Science at Budapest’s ELTE (Eötvös Lóránd University) in 1978, then worked for more than twenty years as a research fellow at the Institute of Political and Legal Sciences of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (MTA), and later served as director general of the College of Public Administration. Between 1991 and 2008, he spent two terms serving as a judge at the European Court of Human Rights.

​​Starting in the 1980s, he was a visiting professor at several universities in the United States and has been invited on multiple occasions to lecture in France and (what was then) West Germany. During the first parliamentary term following the regime change in Hungary, between 1990-1991, Baka served as a member of Parliament for the Hungarian Democratic Forum (MDF), though he never joined the party. He also has a background in labor unions.

In June 2016, the Grand Chamber at the European Court of Human Rights ruled in Baka's favor and found that he had been removed from his position as head of the Supreme Court in 2012 through ad hominem legislation due to his criticism of the Orbán government's planned judicial reforms, which threatened the independence of the courts. Subsequently, the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers held the Hungarian state accountable for failing to implement the Strasbourg judgment in the case of Baka v. Hungary since 2016.

He is likely to take office on 19 August

Parliament could elect the new head of state as early as Tuesday. The vote is expected to be a mere formality, as the election of the new head of state requires the support of two-thirds of the members of Parliament, and the 141-member Tisza faction has a comfortable majority.

The new president shall take office on the eighth day following the announcement of the results of Tuesday’s secret ballot, which would in this case be 19 August. In this case, the new president would be the one to present the state honors and awards customarily announced on August 20, the national holiday celebrating the founding of the Hungarian state.

Pursuant to Amendment 17 of the Fundamental Law, the term of the new head of state will last until the new constitution enters into force, but no longer than five years. Previously, Péter Magyar has said that the next President of Hungary must be someone who will watch over the nation’s unity and the rule of law. According to him, the country needs someone who understands the weight of their words, is capable of calm deliberation, is willing to listen to different opinions, and is aware that all decisions they make have consequences.

The former governing party, Fidesz and their coalition partner, the Christian Democratic People's party (KDNP) will not participate in electing the new head of state. They had previously indicated that they would boycott the vote because they considered Tamás Sulyok’s removal to be illegitimate. “It’s a wasted effort. Under public law, this is invalid, so holding a presidential election is pointless. The position is not vacant,” they stated. Mi Hazánk nominated energy lawyer Máté Tóth for the position, which, without the support of other parliamentary groups, can essentially be considered only a symbolic gesture, since they only have six representatives in Parliament, and the endorsement of at least one-fifth of the representatives—that is, 40 members—is required for a candidate’s name to appear on the ballot.

There were ten candidates

In his post on Saturday, Péter Magyar wrote that thousands of Hungarians have recommended dozens of candidates to the Tisza Party in recent weeks, including numerous distinguished experts and well-known public figures.

The Tisza Party's leadership interviewed ten candidates, eventually recommending three of them to the Tisza Party's parliamentary faction on Saturday.

“We are proud that, for the first time since the transition to democracy, the selection of the head of state did not involve a decision based on deals between parties or choosing from among candidates nominated by parties. Instead, the person we are recommending to lead the nation is a truly independent, nonpartisan individual with a proven track record throughout his life and profession”, the Prime Minister stated.