Thousands of supporters of Hungary’s opposition Fidesz party have gathered outside Sándor Palace in Budapest to protest against a constitutional amendment that would strip President Tamás Sulyok of his mandate.
The demonstration on July 9, held jointly with the Christian Democratic People’s Party (KDNP) under the title “Stop Tyranny”, was called against what organisers described as the construction of a Tisza dictatorship. Tisza is the Respect and Freedom party of Prime Minister Péter Magyar, which took power in April.
Former president János Áder, who occupied the palace from 2012 to 2022 under governments led by Viktor Orbán, delivered the keynote address. He told the crowd the amendment planned by the Hungarian Government would mean “the destruction of Hungary’s rule of law”.
Áder argued that the measure would produce not legal certainty but anarchy, and that once it was in force anything could happen to anyone in Hungary at any time, the Hungarian news agency MTI reported.
The head of state could be removed only through impeachment, he said, and Sulyok had committed no legal violation, leaving the Tisza parliamentary group without grounds to start such a procedure.
Áder, who recalled the forced departures of prime minister Ferenc Nagy in 1947 and president Zoltán Tildy in 1948 under communist pressure, said he had accepted the invitation to speak because democracy was under threat.
Magyar’s Government submitted the 17th amendment to the Fundamental Law on July 4. It would end the incumbent president’s mandate the day after the text entered into force, less than three years into a five-year term.
Tisza holds a two-thirds majority in parliament after ending Orbán’s 16 years in office, so the amendment is expected to pass. Sulyok, elected in 2024 by a Fidesz-dominated parliament, has refused to resign and has referred the proposal to the Council of Europe’s Venice Commission.
The President told the Polish weekly Do Rzeczy the text was “a law tailored to a specific individual”, which he said could not be reconciled with the rule of law.
Fidesz communications chief Bertalan Havasi and MP Gábor Szűcs also spoke at the rally. KDNP president Zsolt Semjén attended and was greeted from the stage.
Orbán promoted the event on social media but did not appear. Magyar has accused Áder of misusing public money through his Blue Planet Foundation, allegations the former president rejected while demanding evidence and an apology.
The European Commission said it was monitoring the amendment process in Hungary.
