The dilemma of the new Hungary: express democratization or with all the guarantees to erase Orbán's regime

BarcelonaPéter Magyar took the helm of Hungary's government on May 9 and has not eased off the accelerator since, with the aim of leaving the autocratic regime built by Viktor Orbán over the last sixteen years behind as quickly as possible. The prime minister has christened this democratic transition operation with the name of purifying fire, whose top priority is to dismiss Fidesz loyalists holding public office who could obstruct the process of rebuilding the rule of law. The first to fall has been the country's president, Tamás Sulyok, whom Magyar has described as Orbán's "puppet". This express democratization process has further boosted the new government's popularity, but has also raised eyebrows among some organizations and analysts who warn of the risk of overdoing it and falling into the same trap of power concentration as the previous regime.

To be able to dismiss the head of state, the governing Tisza party has taken advantage of its two-thirds parliamentary majority to push through a constitutional reform that included his removal. The amendment was approved on July 13 and, although Sulyok threatened to challenge it judicially, denouncing an "abuse of political power", he ended up ratifying it five days later, making his dismissal effective. Parliament now has a maximum of thirty days to choose his successor. Magyar has already received his first refusal, that of chess grandmaster Judit Polgár, who was his first choice.

The approved reform also establishes an age limit for judges of the Constitutional Court: those over 70 years of age will have to leave their posts and will lose their immunity. This affects the president of the court, Péter Polt, another of the loyal figures to the ultra-conservative former prime minister.

The current Constitution – drafted by the former ruling party and modified sixteen times to adapt it to its interests – allows a party with a supermajority in Parliament to reform it without the need for consultation. Tisza is taking advantage of this tool to dismantle the system built by Orbán. "With the Fidesz governments, all key institutions had been captured by the party. What Magyar is doing is trying to dismantle this system and build a new one with stronger control mechanisms," recalls Zsuzsanna Vegh, an associate researcher at the think tank European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR).

The government's objective is to open a consultative process in the autumn to draft a new fundamental law, which should be ratified in a referendum. It has also promised to move forward with a new electoral law.

A "revolutionary" process

"It's a period of transition with many dangers, because we don't have clear constitutional guarantees against the government's power," warns Zoltán Fleck, professor of Sociology of Law at Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE) in Budapest, but he assures that "the direction is good," an opinion shared by all the experts and activists interviewed to create this article. The analyst emphasizes that it is a "revolutionary process" which, therefore, requires "political radicalism." He admits, however, that this may be difficult to fit into "the legally accepted way of changing the system" within European institutions. Nevertheless, he believes that, in the case of the dismissal of the president and other public figures linked to Fidesz, there is a strong legal argument to defend it: "They have not fulfilled the constitutional obligations tied to their positions."

Márta Pardavi, co-chair of the Hungarian Helsinki Committee, a human rights NGO, warns that it is crucial for the Hungarian democratization process to proceed with all guarantees because it will serve as an example for other countries that may find themselves in similar situations in the future on "how to return to democracy and the rule of law quickly, effectively, and legally". She states that the fact that the constitutional reform was pushed through so quickly (there were only five days of public consultation) "has left no room for reflection" on what should and should not be included, and considers that important aspects have been overlooked, such as the dismissal of the President of the Supreme Court as well.

From Amnesty International, they applaud the political objectives of the Magyar government, but criticize the methods used in some cases. For example, regarding the dismissal of the president, they point out that the Constitution provides for a process ofimpeachment which would have been more in line with the law. "Instead, they have chosen a way of doing things that is typical of Fidesz, that is, to reform the Constitution in their favor, to speed up the process," says Áron Demeter, director of communication and campaigns at the Hungarian branch of the organization.

The interviewees agree in questioning another measure included in the constitutional reform: the 12-year limit for members of Parliament, with which it is intended to prevent Fidesz's historical figures from perpetuating themselves in their seats. Previously, the mandates of prime ministers had already been limited to two terms, to ensure that Orbán could not be re-elected. "We have no elections scheduled in the recent future, so there was plenty of time to debate this," says Pardavi.

Vegh argues that this would have fit better within the debate on the new electoral law than in a reform of the Constitution. "What Tisza has done has been a political move to send a message to Fidesz and warn it that its strategy of capturing the state is over," he says.

The Hungarian Parliament has also approved several measures to combat corruption and increase transparency. In this case, the haste is justified, because at the end of August the deadline expires to comply with the requirements imposed by Brussels to unblock the 16.4 billion euros of frozen European funds.

Orbán reappears and denounces a "tyranny"

Orbán's party, which for sixteen years dismantled the rule of law, has criticized that Hungary has become a “tyranny” in the hands of Péter Magyar. Orbán himself called on Wednesday for “national resistance” against the “authoritarian regime” in the first press conference he held since he disastrously lost the elections on April 12. And he announced that Fidesz will use all possible peaceful means to fight against the abuse of power.

However, the party that has dominated the country for almost two decades is losing support at a rapid pace and some of the most prominent figures in its ranks have already left. The leader of the parliamentary group, Gergely Gulyás, has resigned his seat, and one of the strongest men of the previous government, former Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó, has announced that he is leaving politics to take up a senior position at the Chinese electric car manufacturer BYD.