Hungarian president ends term after constitutional amendment passes

Hungarian President Tamas Sulyok lost his job on July 18 after signing a constitutional amendment that ended his own term. Parliament passed the change under Prime Minister Peter Magyar's Tisza party, which won a large election victory in April and removed Viktor Orban's government from power.

The amendment said there was a "serious loss of confidence" in Sulyok. He had been chosen as president in early 2024 by lawmakers from Orban's party.

The same amendment set a 12-year limit on how long lawmakers can serve. It also set a retirement age of 70 for Constitutional Court judges. This forced Peter Polt, a close ally of Orban, to leave his position as president of that court. It was Magyar's seventeenth constitutional change since taking office.