Andras Baka Elected as New President of Hungary

The Hungarian parliament has elected Andras Baka, the former President of the Supreme Court, as the country's new president. In the vote held in the National Assembly of Hungary, lawmakers voted to elect the new president. Baka, the candidate of the ruling party, received the support of 140 lawmakers in the 199-seat parliament and was elected as the new president. Six lawmakers voted against Baka, while lawmakers from opposition parties boycotted the vote. Speaking in parliament after the vote, Baka criticized the government's actions and stated that social and political polarization is one of the biggest problems facing the country:

This country cannot build a common future as long as its citizens see each other as enemies. Political change should not mean that people will be forced to fear, be silent, or feel excluded from now on.

Hungarian Prime Minister Peter Magyar had called on President Tamas Sulyok to resign after winning the election on April 12, and announced that they would make constitutional changes if he did not resign. Baka served as a judge at the European Court of Human Rights between 1991 and 2008. He was appointed as the President of the Supreme Court of Hungary in 2009, but his term was terminated in 2011.