Péter Magyar isn't waiting around. Just weeks after pulling off a landslide election victory that shattered Viktor Orbán’s 16-year grip on Hungary, the newly minted Prime Minister has run straight into a wall named Tamás Sulyok. Sulyok, the Orbán-appointed president, blew right past a May 31 deadline to pack his bags and quit.
Now, the gloves are completely off.
Magyar walked out of a tense Monday morning meeting at the Sándor Palace and went straight to the microphones. The President refused to step down. So, Magyar is doing exactly what Orbán used to do. He is using his newly won parliamentary supermajority to change the constitution and force the guy out.
It's a brutal, high-stakes game of political chicken. It also shows how messy it's going to be to dismantle an autocracy from the inside.
The Ultimate Institutional Roadblock
If you want to understand why Magyar is risking a massive legal fight over a mostly ceremonial office, you have to look at what the president can actually do. On paper, Hungary’s president represents the unity of the nation. They sign bills. They hand out awards.
But they also hold a quiet, destructive power. The president can refuse to sign a law passed by parliament and send it to the Constitutional Court for a review. Under Orbán, that court was stacked to the brim with loyalists.
Magyar and his Tisza party won big in April, securing a two-thirds majority in parliament. They ran on a promise to clean house, unlock billions in frozen European Union funds, and roll back Orbán's illiberal state. But if Sulyok stays in office until his term ends in March 2029, he sits as a gatekeeper. He could theoretically choke every single reform Magyar tries to pass by tying it up in judicial red tape.
The new Prime Minister calls Sulyok an "Orbán puppet" who stayed dead silent while the previous regime demonized critics and restricted civil rights. Magyar wants him gone to restore prestige to the office. Honestly, it's also about survival. You can't pass rapid reforms when the guy signing the papers is working for the ghost of the old regime.
A Refusal Wrapped in the Rule of Law
Sulyok isn't going quietly. He's a constitutional lawyer by training, and he's using that background to defend his corner. He argues that a change in political winds shouldn't alter his legal status. According to him, the constitution is built for a president to cooperate with whatever government the people elect.
Over the weekend, Sulyok lashed out at the pressure campaign, calling Magyar’s demands politically motivated and damaging to the state. He even went as far as requesting a legal assessment from the Venice Commission, Europe’s top advisory body on constitutional matters.
To prove he isn't just an obstructionist, Sulyok offered a carrot. He promised he wouldn't block bills meant to satisfy EU conditions to unlock over €16 billion in frozen funds. He claims there's no reason to fear he'll hijack parliament.
Magyar fired back with pure disdain. He mocked Sulyok on social media, claiming the President never stood up for the rule of law or vulnerable citizens, and is now just protecting his hefty monthly salary of 6.3 million forints.
Dismantling an Autocracy by Altering the Rules
Here is where things get legally sketchy. Under current Hungarian law, a president can only be booted early if they commit a crime or violate the constitution. Sulyok hasn't done either.
So, Magyar is taking a page right out of the Orbán playbook. He’s rewriting the basic law.
Because the Tisza party holds a supermajority, they can pass constitutional amendments at will. They’ve already used it to propose an eight-year term limit for prime ministers to block an Orbán comeback. Now, Magyar says he'll instruct his lawmakers to start the necessary procedures to remove Sulyok, a process he expects to take about a month.
Legal experts are already raising red flags. If a new government can just alter the constitution to fire independent officials whenever they want, what happens to the rule of law? It looks less like a return to democratic norms and more like a different flavor of majoritarian rule. Magyar's defense is simple. You can't fix a rigged system by playing by rules written by the guy who rigged it.
The Next Battlegrounds in Budapest
Sulyok is just the first domino Magyar needs to tip over. The old regime left behind a deep state of loyalists planted in long-term positions specifically designed to outlast an election loss.
If you want to see where the next fights will break out, watch these positions:
- The Chief Prosecutor: Péter Polt has long been accused by the opposition of protecting Orbán’s inner circle from corruption probes.
- The Media Regulator: The body that keeps a tight grip on Hungary’s airwaves and press freedom.
- The State Audit Office and Competition Authority: Key economic watchdogs still led by old-regime appointees.
Magyar has already demanded all of them resign. They’ve all ignored him so far.
If you're watching Hungary to see if a country can successfully pivot back from populism, the next 30 days are crucial. Watch how Magyar structures this amendment. If he writes a broad law that allows the snap removal of other independent heads, it will trigger massive alarm bells in Brussels, potentially threatening the very EU funds he’s trying to secure. If he keeps it hyper-focused on the presidency, he might just get away with it, clear the roadblock, and truly start the post-Orbán era.
