BUDAPEST -- Hungarian President Katalin Novak has resigned following public outrage over her pardon of a man convicted of being an accomplice to child sex abuse.
Novak, a rising star in the ruling Fidesz party, flew back early from a state visit to Doha on February 10 amid protests to announce that she was stepping down from a her post.
“I issued a pardon that caused bewilderment and unrest for many people,” Novak said in a video published on state television. “I made a mistake.”
The 46-year old Novak was chosen by parliament in 2022 to become president, a largely ceremonial position. She is the both the youngest person and the first woman to ever serve in that post.
Novak, who previously served as Hungary's minister for families, in April pardoned Endre K., who was sentenced to more than three years in prison in 2018 for pressuring victims to retract their claims of sexual abuse by the director of a state-run orphanage.
Endre served as deputy director of the institute. The director was sentenced to eight years for abusing at least 10 children between 2004 and 2016.
News of the pardon only came to light on February 2, when a local news outlet broke the story. The president is not required to publish the list of people pardoned.
Outrage immediately followed, culminating in a protest organized by the oppostion Momentum Movement on February 9 in Budapest that attracted several thousand people.
Hungary's long-serving authoritarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has emerged unscathed from the scandal so far. The 60-year old Orban, who has been in power since 2010, has positioned himself as a champion of "traditional" family values.
In his only public statement regarding the scandal, he called for changes to the constitution to prevent child abusers from being pardoned in the future.
Judit Varga, who co-signed the pardon while serving as justice minister last year, announced on February 10 that she would step down as the leader of the Fidesz party ticket for the European Parliament elections this summer.
No decision has been made yet as to who will replace her on the ticket.