The Hungarian parliament has voted to remove President Tamás Sulyok from office, who was widely seen as a loyalist of former prime minister Viktor Orbán who lost power in April after 16 years, the BBC reports.
Prime Minister Péter Magyar’s Tisza party used its two thirds majority to steamroll through the 17th amendment to the constitution, ending the term of Sulyok and the head of the Constitutional Court Péter Polt.
It was the most dramatic day in parliament since the new government took office in early May, after its surprise landslide victory against Orbán’s Fidesz party on 12 April.
Sulyok now has five days to sign the amendment – his own political death warrant – or refer it to the Constitutional Court.
If Sulyok refers it to the court, Magyar has said he will launch impeachment proceedings against him, which would suspend him from office automatically.
Another option would be to simply resign to avoid a constitutional crisis in the interest of the country, as the new government has been urging him to do.
Deputies of the nowopposition Fidesz party walked out of parliament before Monday’s vote, accusing the Tisza party of building a tyranny.
Fidesz argues that the amendment grants the government the arbitrary power to dismiss any public official from office, with immediate effect.
