Hungary’s parliament elected Andras Baka, a former head of the Supreme Court, as the country’s next president on Tuesday, a symbolic step in Prime Minister Peter Magyar’s effort to dismantle former premier Viktor Orban’s bastions of power.
Baka was elected to the largely ceremonial role with the votes of the governing centre-right Tisza party as members of the opposition Fidesz party did not take part in the election.
In a speech after taking the oath of office, Baka criticised the previous government, saying that during Orban’s rule, “one party captured the state”, branches of power were not separate and there was no functioning system of checks and balances.
However, he said that the task of building a new future for Hungary “demands both justice and self-restraint” and said that the president’s role was to represent citizens who hold differing views.
“There is one thing we certainly cannot do, we cannot build the new Hungary on revenge,” Baka said.
Magyar’s election victory in April ended Orban’s 16-year rule. He has vowed to restore democratic standards and called on key officials appointed or elected by Orban’s party to resign.
Removing former President Tamas Sulyok was a key goal of Magyar, who called him a “puppet” of Orban. Sulyok last month signed a constitutional amendment passed by Tisza that ended his own presidency.
Under that amendment, the new president will serve until a new constitution takes effect, or for a maximum of five years.
Members of parliament from the opposition Fidesz party did not take part in the vote as they said in a statement earlier in the day that Tisza “arbitrarily and illegitimately terminated” Sulyok’s term and accused the governing party of “tyranny.”
Fidesz had accused Magyar’s government of authoritarianism, which Tisza denied.
