Hungarian President Katalin Novak, a close ally of Prime Minister Viktor Orban, announced her resignation Saturday following outrage over a pardon granted to a man implicated in a child sexual abuse case.

Soon afterwards another Orban supporter, former justice minister Judit Varga, announced she was withdrawing from public life over the affair.

The announcements followed growing pressure from opposition politicians and protests outside the presidential palace Friday evening.

“I am resigning my post,” said 46-year-old Novak, acknowledging that she had made a mistake.

“I apologise to those who I hurt and all the victims who may have had the impression that I did not support them,” the former minister for family policy added.

“I am, I was and I will remain in favour of protecting children and families.”

Novak became the first woman to hold the essentially ceremonial role of president in March 2022.

The controversy was sparked by the pardon granted to a former deputy director of a children’s home. He had helped to cover up his boss’s sexual abuse of the children in their charge.

The decision was made last April during a visit by Pope Francis to Budapest.

Since the independent news site 444 revealed the decision last week, the country’s opposition had been calling for Novak’s resignation.

On Friday evening demonstrators gathered outside the presidential palace and three presidential advisers quit their posts.

Orban must ‘take responsibility’ –

Novak, who had been in Qatar to attend Hungary’s match against Kazakhstan at the World Water Polo Championships on Friday, swiftly returned to Budapest.

As soon as her plane had landed she emerged and announced her resignation.

“The pardon granted and the lack of explanation may have given rise to doubts about zero tolerance of paedophilia,” she said.

“But there can be no doubt on this subject”, she added, before offering her apologies.

Minutes after her announcement, another ally of Orban, Judit Varga, also announced her “withdrawal from public life”.

As justice minister, a post she quit in order to lead a European Parliament election bid, she had approved the pardon.

“I renounce my mandate as an MP and the head of the list for the European Parliament,” she said on Facebook.

“It was quick: first Novak, then Varga,” said Hungarian MEP Anna Donath, reacting to the news.

“But we know that no important decision can be taken in Hungary without Viktor Orban’s approval,” added Donath, a member of the small liberal Momentum party, on Facebook.

“He has to take responsibility and explain what happened… it’s his system”.

In an attempt to calm national anger, Orban had announced on Thursday that he wanted to revise Hungary’s constitution to exclude the possibility of pardoning paedophile criminals.

Novak, who has been temporarily replaced by the Speaker of Parliament Laszlo Kover, was named last year by Forbes magazine as the most influential woman in Hungarian public life.

Her departure leaves Hungary’s political landscape even more male-dominated. Since mid-2023 there have been no women in Viktor Orban’s 16-man cabinet.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Imran Khan, who is in jail and barred from contesting elections, managed to grab the headlines as independent candidates who support his party Pakistan Tehreek-Insaf (PTI) won 102 seats.
But the party still fell 31 seats short of the majority mark needed to form the government. The result of 8 seats is yet to be announced.
Pakistan election commission has attributed the delay to internet issues, due to which polling stations are facing difficulties transmitting the results.
Nawaz Sharif‘s Pakistan Muslim League (N), which was backed by the Army and the favourite to win the polls, could manage just 73 seats in the 266-seat assembly. Bilawal Bhutto Zardari’s Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) won 54.
Both Khan and three-time former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, declared victory yesterday increasing uncertainty over who will form the next government at a time when swift policy action is needed to address multiple challenges.
The independents’ strong performance points to former prime minister Imran Khan‘s enduring popularity among the nation’s 241 million people, many of whom are struggling to make ends meet amid the fastest inflation in Asia.
Several independents, backed by PTI, have alleged fraud in the election results and moved the high court. According to local media reports, several more candidates could approach the court over the next few days alleging that the votes were rigged.
PTI is also expected to launch nationwide protests today as the final results of the elections have still not been released.  
Gohar Khan, PTI chairman, called on “all institutions” in Pakistan to respect his party’s mandate. At a press conference, he said if complete results of the polls were not released by Saturday night, the party would hold peaceful protests today outside government offices returning election results around the country.
In a bid to keep Imran Khan’s party away from the country’s top office, Nawaz Sharif and Bilawal Bhutto are holding talks to join hands. But even with the combined strength, they will fall short of the majority by 6 seats.

Coming out all guns blazing at the BJP-led Centre during a debate in the Lok Sabha on a resolution on the opening of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya, AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi on Saturday said he has the highest respect for the deity but ‘hates’ Nathuram Godse, the assailant who fatally shot Mahatma Gandhi.

Bristling at the ruling BJP during the discussion on the Ram Temple in the Lower House, the AIMIM MP said, “I have the highest respect for Lord Ram but hate Nathuram Godse because he killed the person whose last words were ‘Hey Ram’.”

Taking the attack to the ruling party at the Centre a notch higher, Mr Owaisi demanded that the BJP come out with a clarification on whether the government has a ‘religion of its own’.

“I want to ask today: is this government under the leadership of PM Modi for a particular community, the practitioners of a certain religion or the entire country? Does this government have a religion of its own? I believe that this country does not and should not stand for any particular religion,” Owaisi said.

The AIMIM chief further called on the government to come clean on whether the resolution on the opening of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya and the ‘Pran Pratishtha’ of the deity on January 22 was meant merely to mark the triumph of one religion over the other.

“Through this resolution on the January 22nd event in Ayodhya, is this government sending out a message that it marked the triumph of one religion over the other? What larger message are they sending out to the 17 crore Muslims in the country?” the AIMIM leader asked.

Also lashing out at the BJP for allegedly labelling leaders from the minority community after Muslim invaders and rulers, Mr Owaisi asked, “Am I a spokesperson for Babar, Jinnah or Aurangzeb?”

The Rajya Sabha, meanwhile, also held a discussion on the ‘Pran Pratishtha’ ceremony of Shri Ram Lalla in Ayodhya on the last day of the 17th Lok Sabha.

Taking the floor in the Upper House during the discussion, BJP national president JP Nadda said the ‘Pran Pratishtha Day’ marked the resurgence or rebirth of the country’s spiritual and cultural conscience.

“When we speak of the 500-year-old history, it was that of slavery and oppression. However, January 22, 2024 will go down as a day of rebirth and resurgence of the country’s spiritual and cultural conscience. This day will remain memorable for thousands of years,” Mr Nadda said.