Hungary's new government has moved to set a hard ceiling on prime ministerial service, unveiling a constitutional amendment that would limit any person to a total of eight years in the top job.
The proposal was submitted on the event date of 2026-05-20, just over a week after Péter Magyar's government took office. According to the Guardian report, it is the first major step by Magyar and his Tisza party to reshape a constitution that Viktor Orbán and his Fidesz party had repeatedly rewritten over more than a decade.
If adopted, the amendment would apply to all time spent as prime minister since Hungary's democratic transition in 1990. That means Viktor Orbán, who served five terms and has accumulated 20 years in office, would be barred from returning to the role. The draft says that anyone who has served as prime minister for at least eight years, including interrupted terms, may not be elected again.
Magyar had promised term limits during his campaign, presenting them as part of a broader effort to restore checks and balances after what he and his allies described as years of democratic erosion. The Guardian said the move is also meant to reduce the risk of Orbán using a political opening to stage a comeback.
The broader constitutional package goes beyond the question of who may hold office. One section would pave the way for dissolving the sovereignty protection office, a body created in Orbán's later years that was widely accused of giving intelligence services broad access to information on people and organisations without judicial oversight. The draft also addresses the status of foundations that under the previous government controlled universities and think tanks, including the Mathias Corvinus Collegium.
Those foundations became a flashpoint with Brussels because they were seen as one of the mechanisms by which Orbán loyalists retained influence over public assets and institutions even after formal transfers out of direct state control. The draft amendment says the state could dissolve the foundations and argues that, although they are private entities, their assets remain national assets.
The proposal is expected to be discussed next week when the national assembly convenes. The Guardian report said passage looks likely because Tisza holds a supermajority in parliament.
Magyar has framed the early phase of his government as a break from the Orbán era. In the weeks after his election victory, he has promised to suspend state media broadcasts that functioned as government mouthpieces, called on Orbán-era appointees to resign, and apologised to public figures, journalists and teachers who were targeted during the previous administration.
The new government is also under pressure to improve public services and restart an economy described in the report as stagnant. At the same time, it is seeking to unlock frozen EU funding, making constitutional reform part of a wider political and financial reset rather than a narrow term-limits measure alone.
