Hungary’s conservative president resigned on Saturday amid public backlash over the pardon he granted to a man convicted of being an accomplice in a child sex abuse case, a decision that is a major blow to his long-ruling nationalist government. It sparked an unprecedented political scandal.
Katalin Novak, 46, announced in a televised message that she will step down from the presidential position she has held since 2022.
Her decision comes more than a week after it was revealed in April 2023 that she had granted a presidential pardon to a man convicted of covering up a spate of child sexual abuse in state-run children’s homes. The decision was made after the anger of the people.
“My pardon has caused confusion and anxiety to many people,” Novak said Saturday. “I made a mistake.”
Novak’s resignation comes in a rare episode of political turmoil for Hungarian nationalist ruling party Fidesz, which has held a constitutional majority since 2010.
Under the leadership of populist Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, Fidesz is accused of dismantling democratic institutions and manipulating electoral systems and the media to its advantage.
Mr. Novak, a key ally of Mr. Orbán and a former vice president of Mr. Fidesz, served as family minister before being appointed by the president. She has been an outspoken advocate of traditional family values and child protection.
She was the first female president in Hungarian history and the youngest person to hold the office.
However, her term ended in 2018 when she pardoned a man who had been sentenced to more than three years in prison. She was found guilty of pressuring victims to recant allegations of sexual abuse by the facility’s director, who abused at least 10 children between 2004 and 2016. He was sentenced to eight years in prison for the crime.
“I made the decision last April in favor of clemency, believing that the convicts did not abuse the vulnerability of the children in their care. I made a mistake,” Novak said Saturday. . “I apologize to those I have hurt and to the victims who may have felt that I did not stand up for them.
“Today is the last time I will address you as head of state. I resign from the office of president of the republic,” she said.
Also involved was Judit Varga, another key Fidesz figure who was then Minister of Justice and supported the amnesty. Varga was expected to be at the top of Fidesz’s list of candidates for the European Parliament when elections are held this summer.
However, in a Facebook post on Saturday, Varga announced that he was taking political responsibility and “resigning from his position as a member of parliament, resigning as leader of the EP List, and retiring from public life.”
On Saturday evening, about 200 people gathered at the presidential headquarters in Budapest for a rally originally planned as a protest calling for Novak’s resignation.
After her announcement, attendees said they were satisfied but that it did not go far enough to fundamentally change Mr. Orbán’s system of governance.
“I’m glad she resigned, but I don’t think things will be resolved as they are. She’s not the main culprit, we have to look to the very top,” Anna Budzina said.
Another attendee, Erzsébet Zapunczei, said she was “very, very happy” with Novak’s resignation, but added: “Like many people in this government, she should have resigned from the first moment. .Because she is not alone.”
“Her resignation was the right thing to do because it would save her from being hated and resented by even more people for what she has done to represent this country,” she said. .
Prime Minister Orbán’s Fidesz party has the highest support of any party in Hungary, helping the splintered opposition party win its fourth straight election.
The government, considered the most Kremlin-friendly in the European Union, has been criticized in the region for withholding key decisions such as aiding Ukraine and joining Sweden in the NATO military alliance.
On Saturday, Fidesz parliamentary leader Mate Kocsis said in a statement that Novak and Varga had made a “responsible decision” and the party was grateful for their work.
