Hungarian President Resigns Amid Pardon Scandal, in a Blow to Fidesz

The February 10 resignation of Hungarian President Katalin Novak, front right, jolted the country’s ruling far-right Fidesz party (Flickr). 

Hungarian President Katalin Novak resigned last week after news broke that she pardoned a suspected child sex offender, sending shockwaves throughout Victor Orban’s staunchly conservative government. Thousands took to the streets in Budapest to protest Novak’s decision while she was away on state business in Doha, forcing her resignation on Saturday February 10. 

The resignations of two more members of Orban’s ruling Fidesz party swiftly followed. Zoltan Balog, a former government minister, resigned from his position in the Hungarian Reformed Church, and Judith Varga, the former Justice Minister and still a key personality within Fidesz, also stepped down following the scandal.

The scandal itself began innocuously. Ahead of a scheduled visit by Pope Francis in April 2023, Novak pardoned twelve people, one of whom was the deputy director of a children's home in Biscke alleged to have helped silence the director’s victims. Local media leaked details of the pardons and the crimes. National press later confirmed the information, but released no names. The deputy director received three years for his role in the plot, CNN reported. 

Novak’s pardon was treated with disgust both by opposition leaders and even members of Fidesz itself, which promotes “traditional family values” and is determined to combat “woke globalism.” In recent days, the pressure on Orban has increased, with tens of thousands of protesters rallying against his government in the greatest opposition he has faced in years. 

The protests represent a loss of popular support at a crucial time for Orban, who has made a name for himself in recent years as Europe’s premier conservative leader seeking to promote a “pan-conservative" movement across the continent. His emphasis on family values and opposition to wokism have endeared him both to his own people and, perhaps significantly, the American right. Orban famously spoke at the Conservative Political Action Conference in the United States in August 2022.

The Hungarian President has also been gaining influence on the international stage, blocking a €50bn EU aid bill to Ukraine for weeks in order to extract key concessions from allied governments. Critics fear that his close relationship with Vladmir Putin poses a threat both to Western security and Hungarian democracy, which has taken on an increasingly authoritarian bend under Orban. 

However, his international ambitions are at risk of derailment following the Novak scandal, which has tarnished Fidesz’s image as traditionalist warriors battling against the tide of liberal degeneracy. Even amongst highly restrictive press laws and a “sprawling press machine,” the outrage amongst the Hungarian people is palpable, according to the New York Times. Despite denials that Orban had any knowledge of the scandal, his close relationship with Balog, who is thought to have lobbied on behalf of the deputy director, and Varga’s importance to his future plans ensure that he is not immune from the fallout. 

While the scandal is unlikely to topple Orban’s government, it is a significant embarrassment to Fidesz’s conservative reputation and may constitute the biggest threat to the Hungarian Prime Minister’s tight grip on power ahead of the European Parliamentary elections in June.