Budapest [Hungary], July 19: After days of hesitating, Hungarian President Tamas Sulyok, a political ally of former Prime Minister Viktor Orban who was voted out in April, cleared the way for a constitutional amendment that would force him out of office.
Sulyok announced he would countersign the constitutional changes, allowing them to enter into force. After parliament passed the constitutional amendment last Monday, new Prime Minister Peter Magyar gave the head of state a five-day deadline to countersign - or face impeachment proceedings.
Until a new head of state is elected, which is to take place within 30 days, parliamentary speaker Agnes Forsthoffer will assume the president's powers. In Hungary, the head of state is elected by parliament.
Magyar confirmed that Sulyok had countersigned the constitutional changes.
"With these decisions, we are giving the Hungarian people back something the Orban regime has been trying to take away for many years: the certainty that power is limited, common property can be reclaimed and the state can once again serve its citizens, the free Hungarian citizens," Magyar wrote on Facebook.
Source: Qatar Tribune