Hungary Protesters Oppose Ousting Pres.07/10 06:18

   

   BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) -- Opponents of the Hungarian government's efforts to 
oust the country's president gathered for a protest in the capital Budapest on 
Thursday after being called to action by the former autocratic prime minister, 
Viktor Orbn.

   The protest drew several thousand people to the presidential offices at the 
opulent Sndor Palace in Budapest's Castle District, where demonstrators spoke 
out in defense of President Tams Sulyok, whom the new center-right government 
has vowed to remove from office with a constitutional amendment.

   After defeating Orbn in a blowout election in April, bringing an end to his 
16 years in power, Hungary's new pro-European prime minister, Pter Magyar, has 
taken action to dismantle what he calls Orbn's "mafia" by removing numerous 
political appointees and heads of institutions viewed as having facilitated 
Orbn's autocratic regime.

   The constitutional amendment, set to go to a vote next week, would end 
Sulyok's term, as well as set term limits for members of parliament, implement 
reforms to the judiciary and create a new authority tasked with uncovering 
alleged financial abuses by Orbn's government.

   But Orbn and his far-right Fidesz party, long accused of dismantling 
Hungary's democratic institutions while in power, have declared that the move 
to remove Sulyok is an assault on the rule of law and democratic norms, and the 
first steps toward a dictatorship.

   One protester, Krisztina Nemerknyi, said Thursday that the demonstration 
was not about the person of Sulyok, "but about the office."

   "The point is not whether Tams Sulyok is popular or not, but that this is 
simply unacceptable in a democracy," she said.

   Magyar has argued Sulyok failed to live up to his role as president by 
neglecting to stand in the way of antidemocratic steps by Orbn's government. 
He promised repeatedly to remove Sulyok during the election campaign, and 
points to his party's two-thirds majority in parliament as a clear mandate from 
voters to fulfill that promise.

   While mostly a ceremonial role, Hungary's president is responsible for 
signing legislation into law and has the power to send bills passed by 
parliament to the constitutional court for review. That's raised concerns among 
supporters of the new government that Sulyok, an Orbn-era appointee, could use 
that power to obstruct its plans.

   Ahead of Thursday's protest -- titled "Stop Tyranny" -- Orbn vigorously 
promoted the event on social media, but did not attend. Since April, his Fidesz 
party, which organized the demonstration, has struggled to recover from its 
major election defeat.

   Jnos Pcs, a Fidesz lawmaker, told The Associated Press at the protest that 
while Fidesz had passed many constitutional amendments -- making 15 changes to 
the document that it unilaterally authored in 2011 -- it had done so "always in 
the interest of the country, in order to protect the country, but not for the 
sake of dictatorship."

   After taking office in May, Magyar's government went quickly to work 
fulfilling other campaign promises, such as suspending the news service of 
Hungary's public television and radio, which Magyar has argued served as a 
"propaganda factory" for Orbn's party.

   It has also implemented an 8-year term limit for prime ministers and ousted 
the heads of the national security and intelligence agencies that served under 
Orbn's tenure. It also succeeded in unlocking 16.4 billion euros (around $19 
billion) in European Union funds for Hungary by enacting rapid reforms to roll 
back the democratic backsliding that occurred under Orbn.