Tamas Sulyok elected new president of Hungary. Japan’s lunar probe responds again after a two-week hiatus

The new president of Hungary will be the current president of the Constitutional Court, Tamas Sulyok. As expected, the Hungarian parliament elected the 67-year-old on Monday with 134 votes, the necessary two-thirds majority. Five MPs voted against. Several opposition factions stayed away from the vote.

He was the only candidate for this position. It was proposed by the Fidesz party of right-wing populist Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. His predecessor Katalin Novak announced her resignation more than two weeks ago due to her involvement in a pedophilia scandal.

The term of office of the Hungarian president is five years. Her role is more representative. Sulyok will take office on March 5. Until then, Parliament Speaker Laszlo Köver will act as acting head of state.

Sulyok is known as a supporter of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s policies. In 2023, the Constitutional Court ruled under his leadership against the Central European University (CEU), which had been active in Budapest for years and which had to move most of its activities to Vienna from 2019 due to intimidation by the government of Orban.

The Constitutional Court ruled that the university had not fallen victim to a violation of the law. The university was a thorn in the side of Orban, who was committed to ‘illiberal’ politics, because it represented liberal values ​​and was founded and financed by the American philanthropist George Soros.

Novak resigned after it was announced that she had pardoned a man convicted of complicity in child sexual abuse. This led to widespread outrage in Hungary and forced the government to withdraw support. (sda/dpa)