Chess legend Judit Polgár refuses offer to become Hungary’s president

Judit Polgár, the retired chess grandmaster who remains the only woman ever ranked among the world’s top ten players, has declined an offer to become Hungary’s president, saying she does not feel she has the strength required to shoulder the task of uniting a divided country.

Polgár, who ended her competitive sporting career in 2014 and is widely recognised as one of chess’s greatest players, described the offer as an honour. In a message posted to social media on July 20, she said she was grateful for the proposal but could not accept it because she did not feel she had “sufficient strength” to take on what she called the historical responsibility of national unity. She added that she would support the election of a new, independent and widely recognised president for Hungary.

The presidency in Hungary became vacant after the country’s president, named in local reporting as Tamás Sulyok, was forced last week to sign a parliamentary constitutional amendment pushed by the governing party. That constitutional change reportedly included measures that limited the president’s term in office and effectively led to his resignation. Following the president’s departure, Prime Minister Péter Madiar publicly offered the presidency to Polgár, presenting her as a unifying figure at a time when political divisions have deepened after some 15 years of Viktor Orbán’s governance.

The governing party, referred to in domestic reports as “Tisa,” backed Polgár’s candidacy in parliament without broad public consultations. The party holds a constitutional majority in Hungary’s parliament, giving it decisive power over key appointments and constitutional changes. That combination of a parliamentary supermajority and the speed of the recent constitutional move has raised questions among observers about democratic process and institutional checks.

Prime Minister Madiar said he respected Polgár’s decision and thanked her for what she has done for Hungary. Under Hungary’s constitution, the president is elected by the national parliament in a secret ballot. The parliament must choose a new president within one month of the office becoming vacant. The Hungarian presidency is largely ceremonial; many of the office’s powers are formal and, in practice, can be exercised only with the government’s consent.

Polgár’s refusal removes a potentially high‑profile, non‑political figure from an appointment that the governing party presented as a way to bridge a fractious political landscape. Her standing as a national figure stems from an exceptional sporting career: she remains the only woman to have broken into the chess world’s top ten, a field long dominated by men. That background had been cited by supporters who argued her appointment could symbolically help to heal political rifts.

The episode follows a period of constitutional and political shifts in Hungary under prolonged rule by Viktor Orbán, a dynamic frequently scrutinised by international rights groups and European institutions concerned about the concentration of power, restrictions on independent institutions, and curbs on dissent. Domestic decisions to amend the constitution and to reshape public offices without wide public consultation are likely to draw continued attention from both domestic critics and foreign observers.

With the presidency vacant, the focus now turns to who will emerge as the governing party’s preferred candidate and how the selection process will unfold within the month allowed by law. The choice will be made by a secret ballot in parliament and could signal the government’s approach to national unity and institutional balance in the months ahead.