Hungary's parliament on Tuesday, 11 August 2025, elected Andras Baka, former chief of the country's Supreme Court, as the nation's new President. Baka, 73, was the sole candidate in the election and secured 140 votes in a secret parliamentary ballot, marking a significant moment in Hungary's evolving political landscape.

How the Election Unfolded

Baka was nominated on Saturday by the ruling Tisza party, which commands a two-thirds parliamentary majority — sufficient to elect the President without requiring opposition support. The party's parliamentary faction selected Baka through a secret ballot from a three-person shortlist. Under Hungarian law, a presidential nominee must secure the backing of at least one-fifth of lawmakers, or 40 MPs, to enter the ballot.

Tisza group leader Andrea Bujdoso had formally requested last week that the presidential election be placed on the agenda of an extraordinary parliamentary session scheduled for 10-11 August, with the vote proposed for 11 August.

Baka's Career and the 2011 Controversy

Baka served as a judge at the European Court of Human Rights from 1991 to 2008, before Hungary's parliament elected him president of the Supreme Court in 2009. His mandate was cut short in 2011 following judicial reforms introduced by then Prime Minister Viktor Orban's Fidesz government — a move that drew significant criticism from rule-of-law advocates at the time. Baka subsequently continued serving as a judge at Hungary's top court.

Tisza described Baka as someone who had 'consistently defended the rule of law, judicial independence and the separation of powers' — a pointed contrast to the Fidesz era that truncated his earlier tenure.

The Transition of Power

Former President Tamas Sulyok's mandate ended at midnight on 20 July under the 17th amendment to Hungary's Fundamental Law. Since then, Speaker of Parliament Agnes Forsthoffer has been serving as acting president. Hungary's Fundamental Law requires parliament to elect a new president within 30 days of a vacancy — a deadline that Tuesday's vote fulfilled.

Prime Minister Magyar's Remarks

Also on Wednesday, Prime Minister Peter Magyar confirmed he had met Baka. In a Facebook post, Magyar described Baka as 'one of Hungary's most respected experts on European law and constitutional affairs,' adding that the two had 'plenty to discuss' — without elaborating on the specifics of their conversation. The remark signals that the new presidency may carry active policy engagement from the outset.

With Baka's election, Hungary enters a new presidential chapter — one shaped by a figure whose career has been defined by judicial independence, and whose own past clashes with executive power may colour his approach to the role.