Hungarian President resigns after pardoning paedophile helper

Photo: FB/KatalinNovák

Hungarian President Katalin Novák resigned this afternoon, saying she committed a mistake by pardoning Endre K. last April. The former Hungarian Justice Minister and number one on Fidesz’s electoral list for the European Parliament, Judit Varga, also resigned today as an MP and chairwoman of the Parliament’s European Affairs Committee. Varga countersigned the presidential pardon last April.

President Katalin Novák announced her resignation today after 5 PM in a video recording shared by the Hungarian public broadcaster M1. She said it was an honour for her to serve Hungarians as president because she loves Hungary and the Hungarians living in Hungary or beyond its borders.

She said she committed a mistake by pardoning a paedophile helper last April. She added she would never grant clemency to anybody who harmed a child physically or emotionally. “Protecting children is our common responsibility”, she added. She asked for the forgiveness of those whom she offended by the presidential pardon. We wrote about the issue HERE.

Here is the video but Novák does not allow you to comment on it:

PM Orbán will choose the next President

Katalin Novák was elected Hungary’s president in May 2022. She could have remained in office until 2027, and the Hungarian constitution would have allowed her another term.

It was PM Viktor Orbán’s idea to elect her as the first female President of Hungary. Before, she served as a secretary of state and minister of the Orbán cabinet responsible for families. Furthermore, she was a deputy leader of Fidesz. She was an extremely popular Hungarian politician, her approval index before the scandal reached even 60%. However, after the scandal broke out, some polls showed that more than 70% of the Hungarians said she should resign.

The next President will be elected by the Hungarian National Assembly. Since PM Orbán has a supermajority in the parliament, there is no question that he will choose the next Hungarian president. Meanwhile, some opposition parties suggest people should choose the president of Hungary, but the government parties do not support the idea.

The former justice minister also resigns

Interestingly, another Fidesz politician had to resign due to the scandal. Judit Varga was a Justice Minister of Hungary before, but later, the corruption scandal of the former head of Hungary’s branch of bailiffs and former state secretary Pál Völner broke out. Afterwards, she became head of the Parliament’s European Affairs Committee.

Fidesz said she would lead their party list for the 9 June European Parliament elections. Now, she announced her resignation from public life. That means she will no longer be a member of the parliament either.

Read also:

  • Will Hungary’s defence minister replace Novák as President of Hungary? – Read more HERE
  • Mass protest in Budapest: 74% of Hungarians believe President Novák should resign – Details and photos in THIS article

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