The National Assembly of Hungary has given the green light to a reform that sets eight years as the maximum time a single person can serve as prime minister. The new restriction, which blocks a possible return of Viktor Orbán to the post, fulfills one of the main campaign promises of the current head of government, the conservative Peter Magyar.
The initiative, presented as an amendment to the fundamental law by the ruling Tisza party, passed with 135 votes in favor, 50 against, and six abstentions, according to the official count. The rule will have retroactive effects, as the calculation is made from 1990, according to information released by Hungarian media.
"Anyone who has held the office of prime minister for a total of at least eight years, including interruptions, may not be elected to said office. For the calculation of this eight-year period, the prime minister's mandate from May 2, 1990, will be taken into account," states the voted text.
The approval of this limit comes shortly after Orbán was re-elected as leader of Fidesz, despite the unprecedented defeat suffered by his party against Magyar in the last elections. In this climate of tension, the former leader has recently gone so far as to call the prime minister a "viceroy" serving Western interests.
Furthermore, during Monday's session, parliamentarians addressed the previous government's plans to establish a migrant camp in the west of the country, an issue that has fueled the confrontation between Magyar and deputy Bence Rétvári.
"You all agreed with Viktor Orbán's proposal to build a migrant camp near the Austrian border, 3-4 kilometers from the settlement of Vitnyéd, on the site of the former dairy school, which was once called the Mecca of the Hungarian dairy industry," Magyar said during the debate, addressing the Fidesz deputies.