The ruling Hungarian party “Tisza” has officially registered its first constitutional amendment bill, which provides for limiting the term of office of the country’s prime minister. This was reported by Telex and HVG.hu.
Source: Gazeta.UA
If adopted, the initiative would prevent former Prime Minister Viktor Orbán from ever holding the position of head of government again. The document titled “Sixteenth Amendment to the Fundamental Law of Hungary” prohibits the appointment of individuals who have cumulatively headed the government for at least eight years since May 1990.
The bill was submitted by MPs from the parliamentary faction Márton Melletay-Barna and István Hantoshi. A two-term limit with retroactive effect was one of the key pre-election promises of Prime Minister Péter Magyar.
Previously, Hungarian law did not impose any limits on the tenure of the head of government, which allowed Orbán to lead the country for a total of five terms since 1998.
In addition, the new initiative proposes the abolition of the Office for the Protection of Sovereignty and the removal from the Constitution of provisions related to the protection of Christian culture and identity through separate institutions.
It also proposes abolishing provisions on public-interest asset management foundations, which previously allowed state universities and other institutions to be transferred into private foundation management.
For adoption of the amendments, a two-thirds majority in parliament is required. At present, the “Tisza” faction has enough seats to potentially approve the constitutional amendments.
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