The proposal would prolong János Áder's five-year tenure by a few weeks belong its end on May 10 to give the newly elected parliament an opportunity to vote on the president.Continue reading
“Fake news, we’re not bothering with it,” the prime minister’s press secretary said in response to media reports that Viktor Orbán is considering becoming the next president of the country after János Áder.
This article was originally posted on our sister-site, Ungarn Heute.
Under current constitutional rules, the president must be elected no earlier than 60 days and no later than 30 days before the five-year term of the incumbent head of state expires. Given that János Áder’s term expires in May, this is due between March 9 and April 9.
There have long been talks in the media about the possible successors of President Áder, with Fidesz politician and House Speaker, László Kövér and Fidesz MEP, László Trócsányi mentioned as contenders. In the past few weeks, there were rumors that Prime Minister Viktor Orbán himself is considering the position, and changing Hungary’s political system to a presidential one.
Now, in an article published by liberal HVG360 on Sunday, this latter scenario surfaced once again, with the author lamenting whether Viktor Orbán “would move from the Carmelite Monastery to the nearby Sándor Palace. This could be a realistic option for him, even if he doesn’t lose the elections, but only loses his two-thirds majority.”
However, according to Orbán’s press chief, Bertalan Havasi, there is no such plan. He told left-leaning ATV that it is “fake news,” and the Prime Minister is not thinking about it.
In the featured photo illustration: Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and President János Áder. Photo by Tibor Illyés/MTI