Restoring constitutionalism in Hungary

Abstract

The question this contribution attempts to answer is how a future democratic government can recreate constitutional democracy after more than a decade of authoritarian constitutional politics in case the united opposition beats Fidesz during the 2022 parliamentary election. Even if this will happen, it is very unlikely that the new governing parties will reach the two-third majority which according to the current rules is necessary to enact a brand new constitution or even to amend Fidesz’s ‘illiberal’ constitution. So the question may arise whether there is an alternative to either breaking the legality by repealing the Fundamental Law with a single majority, an approach represented by Péter Márky-Zay, the Prime Minister candidate of the oppositional alliance, as well as by some constitutional scholars, or to doing nothing about the ‘authoritarian enclave’ (copyright Andrew Arato) of the 2011 Fundamental Law.