András Baka has been elected President of the Republic of Hungary, and in his first speech, he already criticized former Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.
On Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2026, the parliamentary majority of the Tisza Party, led by Prime Minister Péter Magyar, elected the 73-year-old former president of the Supreme Court as the next head of state by secret ballot, with 140 votes in favor, six against, and no abstentions.
Fidesz, Viktor Orbán’s former ruling nationalist party, and its long-time ally the Christian Democratic People’s Party (KDNP) did not participate in the vote. In their view, the vote was possible only through the illegal removal of Tamás Sulyok, the previous president appointed under Orbán. His term was ended last month, July 2026, by a constitutional amendment passed by the Tisza majority after he refused to resign.
Shortly after the result was announced, Baka took the presidential oath in parliament. In his first address immediately after the election, he strongly criticized the Orbán governments for “wasting a generation’s time.” He claimed that Orbán had produced deep crises across the rule of law, society, the economy, public finances, energy, the environment, healthcare, education, and child protection.
He said he would reject revenge politics, stating: “We cannot build the new Hungary on revenge.”
However, he emphasized that accountability is necessary, while noting that the degree of responsibility differs among those who held power.
Baka defined the presidential role as expressing national unity through party-political neutrality, but not value neutrality. He would not sign laws as a mere formality, would not act as an “extended arm” of the parliamentary majority or the government, and would speak out when fundamental constitutional questions are at stake.
Baka will formally assume office on Aug. 19, 2026, with his term expected to last five years.
The election of András Baka already seemed very likely a few weeks earlier, when Péter Magyar posted a joint photo with him and Bálint Ruff on his Facebook profile. The Tisza parliamentary group finally nominated Baka by secret ballot from a shortlist of three.
The former chief justice’s candidacy was attacked from both the left and the right.
Pro-Tisza commentators again pointed out the complete lack of wider social consultation before his election. From the right-wing perspective, Baka’s previous judicial roles were criticized. First, the fact that he had served as a judge at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg for 17 years is deemed highly suspicious. While he was Supreme Court president, he also opposed the 2011 Nullity Act that annulled certain convictions of protesters arising from the 2006 protests and police actions, during which protesters were violently beaten by police while the left was in power.
András Baka was removed from office in 2011–2012 by the Fidesz government through the abolition and reorganization of the Supreme Court, which was replaced by the Kúria. The European Court of Human Rights later ruled that this premature removal violated his rights. The aggrieved former chief justice – who briefly served as an MP for the Hungarian Democratic Forum in 1990–1991 – now assumes the largely ceremonial office of President of the Republic following the similar early removal of Tamás Sulyok.
