New Delhi: Hungary’s prime minister-elect Peter Magyar has told reporters that he demanded President Tamas Sulyok’s resignation at their first meeting, calling him “unworthy”.
In a departure from his predecessor Viktor Orbán’s no press-conferences approach, Magyar held a 3-hour meeting with the press Monday and made a television appearance after a year and a half, during which he said the new government would suspend state media services.
Magyar, whose Tisza party secured a historic two-thirds parliamentary majority in Sunday’s vote, said he made the demand for the removal of the President during a meeting with him to discuss convening the new legislature, expected in early May.
“I repeated to him that, in my eyes and in the eyes of the Hungarian people, he is unworthy of embodying the unity of the Hungarian nation, incapable of ensuring respect for the law,” Magyar told journalists outside the presidential palace.
He added that if the president refused to step down, his incoming government would pursue legislation to remove him, along with what he described as “all the puppets nominated to top posts by the Orbán system,” including the chief prosecutor and the head of the Constitutional Court. He further said the president had responded “enigmatically” to the demand.
With his party’s supermajority, Magyar will have the authority to amend the constitution. He said the new parliament would likely convene around 6 or 7 May and that he had pressed for the earliest possible date.
Viktor Orbán, the Christian nationalist leader of the Fidesz party who maintained close ties with Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, was defeated after more than a decade and a half in power. Trump, who had previously endorsed Orbán “as a fantastic man”, struck a conciliatory tone following the election, saying he believed Magyar “is going to do a good job” and describing him as “a good man,” according to ABC News.
Magyar, in turn, welcomed what he described as Trump’s “very friendly” comments.
In a separate move, signaling a broader overhaul of state institutions, Magyar also said his government would suspend news broadcasts by state media until what he called unbiased coverage could be ensured.
“After a year and a half, I am back in the ‘public’ television studio. We have just witnessed the last days of a propaganda machine,” he wrote on X. “After the formation of the Tisza government, we will suspend the news services of the ‘public’ media until its public service character is restored.”
According to local reports, Magyar was allegedly repeatedly harassed and provoked. His communications were monitored using advanced surveillance tools, and disinformation—including AI-generated content—was regularly deployed to undermine him.
These allegations have not been independently verified.
The Orbán government has faced sustained criticism for curtailing press freedom, weakening judicial independence, and tilting the electoral system in its favour.
“We will do everything to restore the rule of law, plural democracy, and the system of checks and balances,” Magyar added.
(Edited by Varnika Dhawan)
Also Read: Hungary’s next PM Peter Magyar calls for sweeping changes after Orban