Andras Baka elected Hungary’s president after parliamentary vote

Andras Baka, 73, the sole candidate in the election, received 140 votes in a secret ballot. He was nominated by the ruling Tisza party, which holds the two-thirds parliamentary majority required to elect the president without opposition support. Baka will officially take office on August 19.

In his speech, Baka said his role as president would be to represent both majority and minority views, to acknowledge political differences rather than impose artificial unity, and to safeguard constitutional checks and balances.

He said Hungary’s relationships with several international allies have deteriorated in recent years, and rebuilding those partnerships should be an important priority of his presidency.

Baka served as a judge at the European Court of Human Rights from 1991 to 2008. In 2009, Hungary’s parliament elected him president of the Supreme Court.

His six-year mandate as Supreme Court president was cut short at the end of 2011, following judicial reforms introduced by the government of then-Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

Speaker of Parliament Agnes Forsthoffer served as acting president following the end of Sulyok’s term on July 20.

The president of Hungary is elected by parliament for a five-year term and assumes constitutional duties, including signing legislation and representing the state. The president also serves as commander-in-chief of the Hungarian Armed Forces.

Earlier, Qazinform News Agency reported that Hungarian President Tamás Sulyok had signed a constitutional amendment that ended his mandate, following parliament’s approval amid a broader political overhaul led by Prime Minister Péter Magyar.