Schmitt Elected Hungarian President as Orban's Ruling Party Tightens Grip
Pal Schmitt, a ruling party lawmaker and top sports administration official since communist times, was elected as Hungary’s next president.
Schmitt, a 68 year-old former two-time Olympic champion in fencing and European Parliament vice president, succeeds Laszlo Solyom to become the country’s fourth president since Hungary’s transition from communism to democracy 20 years ago. Lawmakers elected Schmitt over Socialist candidate Andras Balogh, a diplomat, with more than two-thirds of the vote today.
Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s Fidesz party swept to power in April elections, winning an unprecedented two-thirds majority in the legislature, which gives it enough votes to pass all appointments and rewrite the Constitution. Orban, who is trying to oust central bank President Andras Simor, is taking control of institutions and government agencies in the month after assuming office.
Hungary’s prime minister has the bulk of executive power and the president’s role is largely ceremonial. Responsibilities include signing bills into law, with the option of sending legislation back to lawmakers for reconsideration or to the Constitutional Court for a legal probe. Solyom’s five-year term expires on August 4.
Schmitt, who won Olympic gold medals in fencing in 1968 and 1972, was a deputy chairman of Fidesz from 2003 to 2007 and a vice president of the European Parliament from July 2009 to May 2010. He has headed the Hungarian Olympic Committee since 1990 and was vice president of the International Olympic Committee from 1995 to 1999. He was a deputy state secretary for sports under communism in the 1980s.
Orban proposed Schmitt for the job, saying he was the “most qualified” candidate, MTI news service reported yesterday. Schmitt on June 24 said as president he “wouldn’t block the government’s agenda and would instead be its motor.”
Schmitt’s election coincided with the resignation of Adam Farkas, head of the independent financial regulator, who cited the need for the government’s confidence to do his job. Fidesz appointed Laszlo Domokos, one of its parliamentary deputies, to head the independent State Audit Office.
Orban is also trying to oust Simor, who has dismissed calls for his resignation, saying it was his “constitutional duty” to serve out his term until 2013.
To contact the reporter on this story: Zoltan Simon in Budapest at zsimon@bloomberg.net
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