They finally did it. Budapest saw the guillotine fall on the old regime Monday. Hungary’s parliament voted to rewrite the constitution, a move designed specifically to kick President Tamás Sulyok out of his cozy office and begin the messy work of tearing down Viktor Orbán’s autocracy.
Power shifted fast. Prime Minister Péter Magyar and his center-right Tisza party won big in April. Now, they hold a supermajority. That means they have the numbers to rewrite the rules. They did exactly that, passing the amendment with 139 votes. Only six opposed. Tisza politicians cheered. Orbán’s Fidesz party didn’t even show up to watch.
Sulyok has five days to sign his own political death warrant. He hasn’t said if he will. If he fights, Tisza plans to impeach him anyway.
Magyar wanted this scalp. During the campaign, he called Sulyok a puppet who let Orbán trample Hungarian democracy. He promised voters he would clear him out. Now, he claims a mandate. “We have closed an era,” Magyar told reporters, smelling blood.
This isn’t just about one man. The amendment also targets the courts, creates an anti-corruption watchdog to dig through old Fidesz books, and caps lawmaker terms at 12 years.
Fidesz is screaming bloody murder. They call it a coup. Last week, they managed to drag 3,000 cold souls into the streets to protest, though Orbán himself skipped the rally. Instead, the former strongman posted a digital eulogy on Facebook, implying Hungarian democracy died this week. Then he hopped a plane to America to watch the World Cup.
The presidency is mostly show, but Sulyok held the pen. He could block laws. Magyar’s crew couldn’t risk an Orbán loyalist throwing sand in their gears. Since May, they have been purging the state apparatus, shutting down the state media “propaganda factory” and killing off the notorious Sovereignty Protection Office.
Fidesz is hurting. Gergely Gulyás, their caucus leader, resigned in protest because the new term limits bar him from running again. Meanwhile, die-hard Orbán loyalists planned to stand in the cold Monday night with candles, weeping for a lost empire.
