Hungary Passes Constitutional Amendment Barring Orbán From Ever Returning as PM

Viktor Orbán served approximately 20 years across five terms, including four consecutive terms from 2010 to 2026. Under the new rule, he is automatically disqualified. Péter Magyar himself is also affected: the amendment limits his own potential premiership to a maximum of eight years .

The measure was submitted to parliament on May 20, 2026, just over a month after Magyar’s Tisza Party won a more than two-thirds majority in April’s elections . Magyar had consistently campaigned on term limits, framing unlimited tenure as a direct path to concentrated power and erosion of democratic checks .

Dismantling the Sovereignty Protection Office

Beyond term limits, the 16th amendment abolishes the legal basis for the Sovereignty Protection Office (Szuverenitásvédelmi Hivatal, or SPO). The office was created under the 2023 Sovereignty Protection Act and granted broad powers to investigate individuals and organizations deemed to serve foreign interests .

In the words of the Tisza-sponsored bill that accompanied the amendment, “The Sovereignty Protection Office performs no actual public duty, and its creation served purely political intent and interest” . Critics, including Human Rights Watch, had long described the office as a tool for stigmatizing journalists, civil society groups, and opposition figures who received foreign funding . The European Commission referred Hungary to the Court of Justice of the European Union in 2024, arguing the Sovereignty Protection Act violated EU law on fundamental rights and data protection .

Prime Minister-elect Magyar signaled his intentions in early May 2026, promising to scrap the office “with no delay” and describing it as “a political cudgel,” estimating the abolition would save the central budget 6 billion forints (€27 million) per year .

Reclaiming Public Assets

The amendment package also introduces a mechanism to bring public trust foundations under state ownership and management. These trusts, established during the Orbán years, held billions of dollars in assets and operated as extensions of political influence outside ordinary government control . By amending Article 38 of the Fundamental Law on public assets, the 16th amendment enables the government to dissolve those structures and recover resources for the state budget .

Orbán’s Response

Viktor Orbán reacted dismissively. In an interview with Hungary’s Index portal, he called the decision “ridiculous” and “funny because it doesn’t work.” He argued that “in the end, people make the decision anyway,” suggesting voters would ultimately override the constitutional change if they wanted him back . His Fidesz party opposed the amendment in parliament, but with the final vote at 135–50 with 6 abstentions, opponents lacked the numbers to block it .

What Legal and Political Constraints Does the Amendment Face?

The 16th amendment is now part of Hungary’s constitution, but its durability is not absolute.

Reversal would require another constitutional amendment. Because the term limit is embedded in the Fundamental Law, a future parliamentary majority could theoretically remove or modify it — but only with another two-thirds vote, which requires a supermajority coalition or a single dominant party that commands the same parliamentary arithmetic Tisza used to pass the original amendment .

Constitutional court challenges are possible. Some legal analysts have noted that Orbán-era institutional appointees, including past nominees to the Constitutional Court, retain standing to challenge Magyar’s reforms. The Court itself was stripped of substantive review powers over constitutional amendments in 2013, but opposition groups could still attempt procedural challenges . As of mid-June 2026, no formal challenge had been filed.

EU institutions are watching. The European Commission’s pending infringement case over the Sovereignty Protection Act is now effectively moot, as the office’s legal basis has been repealed. There are no reported EU-level challenges to the 16th amendment itself, though the broader rule-of-law restoration process will remain under EU scrutiny .

Political risk cannot be dismissed. The amendment’s long-term survival depends on sustained electoral outcomes that prevent a Fidesz-led coalition from regaining a constitutional majority. If that were to happen, nothing in the constitution prevents a new government from undoing the term-limit provisions — a point Orbán himself seemed to hint at when he called the amendment “funny because it doesn’t work” .