election victory in April<\/a> ended Orb\u00e1n\u2019s 16-year run as head of government and handed the new administration a two-thirds parliamentary majority.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
<\/p>\n
The amendment states that anyone who has already served as prime minister for at least eight years since the democratic transition of 1990 cannot be elected to the post again.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Orb\u00e1n served as prime minister from 1998 to 2002 and again from 2010 until his election defeat in April. His combined time in office totalled 20 years, making him the longest-serving head of government in modern Hungarian history.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Under the new rules, that record also prevents him from seeking another term.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
During the election campaign, Magyar promised what he described as a change of regime and pledged to dismantle structures created during Fidesz rule. His party\u2019s parliamentary majority has enabled it to pursue constitutional reforms without needing support from opposition groups.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The amendment now moves to President Tam\u00e1s Sulyok for review. Sulyok, who was appointed during the Fidesz era, has resisted calls from the new government to step down. If he returns the legislation to parliament, lawmakers retain the power to approve it again and override objections.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The term-limit measure arrives just days after Orb\u00e1n secured another term as leader of Fidesz despite the party\u2019s election defeat.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Reacting to the vote, Orb\u00e1n struck a defiant tone on social media.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Orb\u00e1n law has been passed. That was the most pressing issue. If I\u2019m needed, I\u2019ll be here,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The constitutional package targets several institutions established during Orb\u00e1n\u2019s years in office.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Among the most significant changes is the planned dismantling of the Sovereignty Protection Office, an agency created in 2023 to investigate what the previous government described as foreign influence in Hungarian public life.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The office examined journalists, civil society organisations and opposition figures. Critics argued that the body functioned as a political tool aimed at those who challenged government policies.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The amendment also affects a network of public-interest foundations that received state assets during Orb\u00e1n\u2019s administration.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
HT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hungary\u2019s parliament has approved a constitutional amendment that limits prime ministers to a maximum of eight years in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":109271,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[87],"tags":[55306,73,23811,158,113,14835,3039,6552,55307,55305,6937,4038],"class_list":["post-109270","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-helsinki","tag-constitutional-amendment","tag-european-union","tag-fidesz","tag-finland","tag-helsinki","tag-hungarian-parliament","tag-hungary","tag-peter-magyar","tag-sovereignty-protection-office","tag-term-limits","tag-tisza-party","tag-viktor-orban"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@dk\/116761115174833683","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109270","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=109270"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109270\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/109271"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=109270"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=109270"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=109270"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}