András Baka is going to be Tisza’s candidate for President

The Tisza Faction has made one of its most important decisions to date by secret ballot: We are nominating András Baka, former president of the Supreme Court, for the office of President of the Republic of Hungary

— the ruling party’s parliamentary group announced in a statement early Saturday afternoon.

Prime Minister Péter Magyar and Bálint Ruff, Minister in Charge of the Prime Minister’s Office, have met with several figures from the academic, cultural, and public spheres in recent weeks, including Botond Fülöp, known as the “Provincial Prosecutor,” and historian Ignác Romsics; the prime minister posted a photo of his meeting with Baka on August 5. At Friday’s press conference, Magyar responded to a question from our newspaper by saying that all three of them would make fantastic presidents of the republic.

According to the parliamentary group’s statement, the Tisza leadership held talks with a total of ten candidates “whose character could serve as a guarantee for achieving the unity of the Hungarian nation.” Of these, three candidates were recommended to the parliamentary group. The representatives decided by secret ballot to nominate András Baka for the presidency.

The caucus wrote of the 73-year-old Baka that they are convinced that “his experience and the professional independence he has demonstrated throughout his life are of particular value during this period, in which we are preparing to jointly lay the foundations for Hungary’s new constitutional order.”

In the constitutional period ahead of us, we need a president whose professional authority, independence, and experience in public law and constitutional matters provide a solid foundation for successfully guiding our country back onto the path of the rule of law and constitutional governance. András Baka is worthy of embodying the unity of the entire Hungarian nation and of holding the office of President of the Republic

—they wrote.

The Tisza faction has already proposed that the National Assembly decide on the new President of the Republic at next week’s parliamentary session. A two-thirds majority of the members of parliament is required to elect the new head of state: since the ruling party’s faction holds the necessary majority, the vote on August 11 will almost certainly be successful, and András Baka will be elected president.

As is well known, former President Tamás Sulyok’s term ended on July 20 after he signed the constitutional amendment to that effect. The National Assembly then has thirty days to elect a new President of the Republic; during this interregnum, Ágnes Forsthoffer, Speaker of the National Assembly, will serve as head of state.

Fidesz maintains that the presidential election is invalid under public law and therefore will not participate in the process, while the Mi Hazánk Movement has put forward its own candidate, energy lawyer Máté Tóth, for the post.

Who is András Baka?

Born in 1952, András Baka earned his law degree from ELTE in 1978 and then conducted research at the Department of Constitutional Law of the Institute of Political and Legal Sciences of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences until 1989. A legal scholar and university professor, he served as a judge on the European Court of Human Rights from 1991 to 2008. In the 1990 parliamentary elections, he won a seat on the Hungarian Democratic Forum’s Budapest regional list as an independent candidate, but resigned his seat after taking up his post at the Strasbourg-based court.

In 2008, President László Sólyom nominated Baka for the vacant position of President of the Supreme Court. In 2009, he was elected president of the court for a six-year term; however, following Fidesz’s rise to power, his term was terminated on January 1, 2012—three and a half years early—pursuant to transitional provisions related to the Fundamental Law. In 2016, the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg ruled that Hungary had violated Baka’s right to a fair trial and to freedom of expression. The court concluded that his appointment had been terminated because of his statements criticizing judicial reforms. Baka subsequently served as president of the Supreme Court and then retired in 2019.

The Judit Polgár Fiasco

After Tamás Sulyok signed the 17th amendment to the Fundamental Law on July 18 and thereby stepped down from the office of President of the Republic, Prime Minister Péter Magyar promised a broad public consultation on the selection of the new head of state. The next day, numerous prominent figures from the worlds of culture, science, and sports recommended eight-time Olympian and international chess grandmaster Judit Polgár for the post. Shortly thereafter, Péter Magyar announced that he would speak with her personally to ask whether she would be willing to assume the office of head of state, and on Monday, the Tisza faction also unequivocally threw its support behind her. On the same day, Judit Polgár announced that she was declining the offer to become President of the Republic.