Hungary Ruling Party Names Court Head To Replace Disgraced President

Hungary's governing party on Thursday nominated Constitutional Court head Tamas Sulyok as the country's next president as nationalist premier Viktor Orban looks to overcome his biggest political crisis

Budapest, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 22nd Feb, 2024) Hungary's governing party on Thursday nominated Constitutional Court head Tamas Sulyok as the country's next president as nationalist premier Viktor Orban looks to overcome his biggest political crisis.

Orban ally Katalin Novak resigned as president earlier this month after it was revealed she had pardoned a convicted child abuser's accomplice.

Hungary's top judicial authority has since suspended the legal journal that made the controversial ruling public, independent news site 444 reported Thursday.

News of the pardon sparked outrage in Hungary, whose government has long campaigned on a pledge to protect children.

The affair has turned into the biggest political crisis Orban has faced since his return to power in 2010.

Fidesz parliamentary group leader Mate Kocsis said his party was putting its "trust" in Sulyok as "the most suitable person" to succeed Novak.

"He is best poised to embody the unity of the nation," he said at a televised briefing in the western town of Balatonalmadi, where his group is holding a two-day meeting behind closed doors.

Sulyok, 67, is little known to the broader public. He became a constitutional court judge in 2014 and two years later, the legislature named him the head of the 15-member judicial body.

Most opposition parties criticised Sulyok's candidacy, labelling him a "Fidesz party soldier", and he still has to be endorsed by parliament as president.

This is seen as a formality however, given the Fidesz-led ruling coalition commands a comfortable majority.

Kocsis stressed that Fidesz MPs want parliament -- which reconvenes from next Monday -- to elect the next president as soon as possible.