Hungary's ruling party backs chess legend Judit Polgar for president

BUDAPEST, July 20 - The lawmakers of Hungary's ruling Tisza party unanimously support chess legend Judit Polgar for president and will make a final decision about the nomination at their next meeting, the parliamentary group's leader Andrea Bujdoso said on Monday.

Prime Minister Peter Magyar said on Sunday that he would ask Polgar, widely regarded as the greatest ever female chess player, to take up the largely ceremonial role of president until a new constitution is passed.

On Saturday, Tamas Sulyok signed a constitutional amendment passed by Tisza that ended his term as president.

Electing a new president and drafting a new constitution are key elements of Magyar's drive to dismantle former premier Viktor Orban's bastions of power, for which Magyar says he received a strong mandate from voters.

Magyar ended the 16-year rule of Orban's nationalist Fidesz party with a landslide election victory in April.

Parliament, where Magyar's party has a two-thirds majority that allows it to change any laws, will elect a new president who will be in office until a planned new constitution takes effect, or for a maximum of five years.

Bujdoso said Tisza's parliamentary group had agreed after a long discussion that Polgar, 49, was "patriotic, honourable, empathetic, brave, outstanding and dedicated in her profession", and "able to express the nation's unity".

Polgar could not be reached for comment.

"The president of the republic must be a person who guards the unity of the nation and constitutionality," Magyar told parliament.

Polgar, subject of the documentary "Queen of Chess" released in February, is the only female player to have been ranked in the world's top 10 of what is a male-dominated sport.

She is the only woman to have crossed the rating of 2700, the threshold that many consider the definition of a "Super Grandmaster". REUTERS