New Prime Minister Forces Out Orban's 'Puppet'

Hungary's president signed a constitutional amendment into law on Saturday that ends his term in office, bringing to a close a dispute between him and the country's new government that was seeking to oust him as part of a purge of officials appointed during the reign of Viktor Orban. Hungarian Prime Minister Peter Magyar, who defeated Orban in a blowout election in April, had repeatedly called on President Tamas Sulyok, who was appointed by Orban, to resign. Magyar argued that Sulyok had failed to live up to his role by neglecting to stand in the way of antidemocratic steps by Orban's government, the AP reports.

When Sulyok refused, lawmakers with Magyar's pro-European, center-right Tisza party passed a constitutional amendment this week that called for an immediate end to his term. Sulyok had five days to sign the amendment into law, which he did on the final day. In a video posted to Facebook on Saturday evening, Sulyok—whom Magyar had frequently referred to as Orban's "puppet"—said that being made to sign the amendment was "lasting proof that the fundamental values of a free society, the rule of law, democracy, the principle of power-sharing, have been trampled on in the interest of power."

Sulyok's term will officially end at midnight on Monday, when parliament Speaker Agnes Forsthoffer will automatically assume his duties until lawmakers elect a new president, a task with a 30-day deadline. Since taking office in May, Magyar's administration has quickly gone to work dismantling what he calls Orban's "mafia" by removing numerous political appointees and heads of institutions viewed as having facilitated Orban's autocratic government. The new government suspended the news service of Hungary's public television and radio—which Magyar has argued served as a "propaganda factory" for Orban's party—and shuttered Hungary's Sovereignty Protection Office, an authority seen by Orban's opponents as a tool for intimidating critics and silencing independent media. In a Facebook post on Saturday, Orban responded to Sulyok's ouster by writing that "tyranny is no longer a threat, but a reality."