Hungary to Elect New Head of State Amid Efforts to Loosen Orban's Grip

Hungarian lawmakers on Tuesday are expected to elect former supreme court chief Andras Baka, who was fired under ex-premier Viktor Orban, as the country's next head of state. The post became vacant following the contested removal last month of the previous president, an Orban ally, as pro-EU conservative Prime Minister Peter Magyar pushes to loosen his predecessor's lingering hold over state institutions. Magyar's ruling Tisza party on Saturday nominated Baka -- who served 17 years as a judge on the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) -- for the largely ceremonial role. Magyar said Baka's life served "as an example of commitment to the democratic rule of law and constitutional principles" as the central European country needs to be "guided back onto the path of the rule of law and constitutional governance". Tisza has the two-thirds parliamentary majority required to elect Baka, 73, on the first round without any opposition support. The vote in parliament is due to start at 14:00 local time (1200 GMT). The previous president, Tamas Sulyok, saw his mandate cut short by a constitutional amendment, adopted as part of Magyar's reform push. Magyar's party won April elections, ending nationalist Orban's 16 years in power and promising "system change". But rights watchdogs criticised Sulyok's removal, comparing the tinkering to the methods Orban used to build his self-styled "illiberal" system. Orban's Fidesz party, along with its ally KDNP, said they would boycott the parliamentary vote, arguing Sulyok's ouster was "tyrannical" and "illegitimate".