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BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Hungary’s conservative president resigned Saturday amid a public outcry over granting amnesty to a man convicted in a child sex abuse case, a decision that marked a crisis for the long-serving nationalist government. Gave rise to an unprecedented political scandal.
Catalin Novak, 46, announced in a televised message that she would step down as president, the post she has held since 2022. His decision came after more than a week of public outcry after it was revealed that he Presidential pardon issued in April 2023 A man has been convicted of covering up child sexual abuse at a government children’s home.
“I issued an apology that caused consternation and unrest to many people,” Novak said Saturday. “I made a mistake.”
Novak’s resignation was a rare episode of political turmoil for Hungary’s nationalist ruling party Fidesz, which has ruled with a constitutional majority since 2010. led by populists Prime Minister Viktor OrbanFidesz has been accused of dismantling democratic institutions and manipulating the electoral system and media in its own favor.
Novak, a key Orbán ally and former vice president of Fidesz, served as Minister of Families until his appointment to the presidency. she spoke out loud Advocacy of traditional family values And protection of children.
She was the first female president in the history of Hungary, and the youngest person to hold the position.
But his term ended in 2018 after he pardoned a man sentenced to more than three years in prison. He was sentenced to eight years in prison for abusing at least 10 children between 2004 and 2016 after he was found guilty of pressuring victims to withdraw their claims of sexual abuse by the institution’s director.
“I took the decision in favor of clemency in April last year in the belief that the convict had not abused the vulnerability of the children entrusted to him. “I made a mistake,” Novak said Saturday. “I have apologized to those I hurt and to those victims who may have felt I was not standing up for them.
“As head of state, I am addressing you today for the last time. I resign the post of President of the Republic,” she said.
Also included was Judit Varga, another prominent Fidesz figure, who was then Minister of Justice and had supported amnesty. Varga was expected to lead Fidesz’s list of European Parliament candidates. Elections are to be held this summer,
But in a Facebook post on Saturday, Varga announced she would take political responsibility and “retire from public life, resigning her seat as a member of parliament and as leader of the EP list.”
A protest originally planned to call on Novak to resign, at the presidential headquarters in Budapest on Saturday evening, gathered about 200 people.
After his announcement, attendees said they were happy, but that it was not enough to fundamentally change Orbán’s system of governance.
“I am happy that he resigned but I think things are not solved that way. He is not the main culprit, you have to look up,” Anna Bujna said.
Another attendee, Erzsébet Czapunczyk, said she was “very, very happy” with Novak’s resignation, but “she should have resigned from the first moment, like many people in this government, because she is not alone.”
He said, “Her resignation was the right thing, because that way she would save herself from having even more people hating her and being angry at the fact that she has represented this country so far.”
Orbán’s Fidesz enjoys the highest level of support among Hungarian political parties, and a fragmented opposition has contributed to his four consecutive election victories.
His government, considered the most Kremlin-friendly in the EU, has been criticized within the bloc for stalling on major decisions such as support for ukraine And Sweden’s inclusion in the NATO military alliance,
On Saturday, the head of Fidesz’s parliamentary delegation, Mate Kocsis, said in a statement that Novak and Varga had made a “responsible decision” and that the party was grateful for their work.
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