Hungarian President Katalin Novak resigned on Saturday after coming under mounting pressure for pardoning a man convicted of helping to cover up sexual abuse in a children’s home.
Novak stated during the announcement that her decision to pardon the deputy director of a government-run children’s home has received backlash and left many confused and unsettled.
The controversy which led to the resignations came after the names of 25 people pardoned by Ms Novak in April last year, as part of a visit to Hungary by Pope Francis, were made public by Hungarian media last week.
On the list of convicts was the deputy director of a children’s home near Budapest, who had been jailed for three years after forcing children to retract claims of abuse against the director of the home.
The director had himself been jailed for eight years over abusing children at the government-run facility.
Hungarian opposition parties and protesters had been demanding her resignation, but Ms. Novak’s decision to do so was as sudden as it was unexpected. Ms. Novak said she granted the pardon in the belief the convicted man “did not exploit the vulnerability of the children under his oversight”.
“I resign from public life, I resign my mandate as a lawmaker and also the top position on the European party list,” Varga said.
The head of Fidesz’s parliamentary group, Mate Kocsis, said Novak and Varga made responsible decisions which the party would respect.
