Laszlo Solyom

Laszlo Solyom (born January 3, 1942, Pécs, Hungary—died October 8, 2023, Budapest, Hungary) was a Hungarian academic, lawyer, and politician who was president of Hungary (2005–10).

Solyom studied at the University of Pécs, graduating in 1965 with a degree in law and political science. He taught at the Institute of Civil Law in Jena, East Germany, while earning his doctorate (1969). Returning to Hungary, he taught law and held a variety of law-related positions in the 1970s, including a fellowship at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.

Solyom’s involvement in politics began in the 1980s, when he served as legal advisor to the environmental organization Duna Kör (Danube Circle), a group opposed to the damming of the Danube River. He also began working in the area of constitutional rights and jurisdiction. He focused on the right to privacy and helped to introduce the concept of data protection in Hungary. Solyom was a member of several civic organizations that aided Hungary’s transition to democracy in the late 1980s, including the Club for Freedom of the Press and the Independent Lawyer’s Forum. He was also a founding member of the Hungarian Democratic Forum, a conservative political party.

In 1989 the Hungarian parliament appointed Solyom to the newly established Constitutional Court, and he became president of the court a year later. One of his most significant rulings as president of the court was a ban on capital punishment. Solyom subsequently returned to academic pursuits, teaching law at the Pasmany Peter Catholic University in Budapest. In 2005 he emerged as a candidate for president when he was nominated by the environmental group Vedegylet. With the backing of the opposition parties Fidesz-Hungarian Civic Alliance and the Hungarian Democratic Forum, Solyom was narrowly elected president of Hungary by the parliament. As president, Solyom was commander in chief of Hungary’s armed forces but otherwise had limited authority. His five-year term as president expired in 2010.