Efe Budapest
Budapest
Updated Saturday, February 10, 2024-18:11
The president of Hungary,
Katalin Novák
, very close to ultranationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, announced her resignation this Saturday after a week of controversy over a pardon she granted to a director of a children's home who tried to hide cases of pedophilia.
"I ask for forgiveness from those whom I have hurt. Today I speak to you for the last time as president. I resign from my position," Novák said in a televised speech, after returning early from a visit to Qatar.
The head of state, a former Minister of Family Affairs, acknowledged having "made a mistake" by pardoning a deputy director of a children's home, whose manager abused several minors for years.
The controversial pardon, granted in April 2023 on the occasion of Pope Francis' visit to Budapest, was discovered by the press last week.
Since then, opposition organizations and political parties have called for the president's resignation, considering this pardon as "
unacceptable
."
The presidential position in Hungary has primarily representative attributes, although it also includes signing pardons for prisoners at the proposal of the Government.