András Baka, a former judge dismissed by Orbán, elected president of Hungary

The Hungarian Parliament elected András Baka, 73, as President of the Republic on Tuesday with 140 votes to 6. This former President of the Supreme Court, whom Viktor Orbán himself ousted in 2011, will have to oversee the drafting of a new constitution and ensure the dismantling of the institutional legacy of the former Prime Minister.

András Baka is no stranger to political setbacks. In 2011, the Fidesz government ousted him from the presidency of the Supreme Court for attempting to oppose the weakening of the rule of law. Fourteen years later, it is this same trajectory that has led to his appointment as head of the Hungarian state by Péter Magyar's government.

Speaking before Parliament, Baka delivered a deliberately conciliatory speech. "We cannot build the new Hungary on revenge," he declared. "The majority of society today feels a sense of liberation and hope. Others feel disappointment and uncertainty. In a democratic society, this is not an anomaly; it is a natural state of affairs."

The 51 Fidesz MPs left the chamber before the vote, in protest against the removal of their candidate Tamás Sulyok, who was dismissed from his post last month. Orbán's party accuses the Tisza government of establishing a "tyranny."

Baka spent seventeen years as a Hungarian judge at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. "I am not a politician," he told the BBC last month. "I became involved in politics through my professional and legal way of thinking."

His presidency, however, promises to be far from a mere formality. Even before being approached for the position, he had expressed his opposition to the term limits for members of parliament, enshrined in the recently adopted constitutional amendments, seeing them as an infringement on voters' right to freely choose their representatives. The Magyar government, perhaps hoping for a compliant president, could be in for a surprise.

Since taking office in early May, the government has passed 27 laws and two constitutional amendments. The states of emergency related to migration, Covid-19, and the war in Ukraine, which Orbán used to rule by decree, have been lifted. The Office for the Protection of Sovereignty, used to target critical journalists and NGOs, has been abolished. It has been replaced by a National Office for the Recovery and Protection of Assets, with broad powers to investigate and prosecute those accused of misappropriating public funds under the previous government.

Public radio and television stations have been off the air since July 9, while their news programs are being overhauled, with the stated objective of removing them from their role as relays of government propaganda from the Fidesz era.

Baka's presidency is designed to be transitional. A constitutional amendment stipulates that he will remain in office until the new constitution comes into force, with a term capped at five years. Before Parliament, he emphasized a fundamental conviction: "The state does not exist for itself. It exists for the people."