László Sólyom
Laszlo Solyom [ la ː slo ː ː ʃo yom ] ( born January 3, 1942 in Pécs ) is a Hungarian lawyer, librarian, politician and served as 2005-2010 president of the country.
Education and academic career
Solyom acquired in Pécs the general university and studied law at the University of Pécs. In 1964, he earned a doctorate. A year later, he trained as a librarian at the National Széchenyi Library. With a variety of scholarships, he continued his studies at various universities (Hamburg, Cologne and Berkeley ).
He worked in the court of Kispest as a trainee, from 1966 to 1969 he taught at the Friedrich -Schiller- University Jena. He then worked at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and in Parliament's library.
Solyom taught from 1983 to 1996 at the Eotvos Lorand University, after which he was Chair senior professor at the Catholic Pázmány Péter University in Budapest. From 2002 he also taught at the German-speaking Andrássy Gyula University.
He worked with the constitutionalists Georg Brunner, with whom he wrote several books about constitutional law. Between 1999 and 2000 he was a visiting professor at the University of Cologne. His research interests are constitutional law and civil law.
Career in public life
Politically Solyom was not until the late 1980s active. He served as a counselor unofficial environmental movement and participated in the " meeting of Lakitelek " ( lakitelki találkozó ), where the leading opposition figures in the country met to discuss the situation in Hungary. There, the Christian conservative party MDF was ( Hungarian Democratic Forum ) in 1987, whose founding member he was. In 1989 he was a member of the presidium for a short time.
Solyom participated in the "National negotiations at the Round Table " ( Nemzeti Kerekasztal - tárgyalások ) and was involved in drafting the current constitution of Hungary. He was a strict advocate of an "invisible constitution".
From 1989 to 1998 Solyom was Presiding Judge of the Hungarian Constitutional Court. Therefore, he resigned from the MDF and has since party affiliation. During his tenure, the death penalty was declared unconstitutional, explaining the compensation principle as a matter of priority and to strengthen freedom of expression.
Solyom, 2000 was co-founder and board member of the environmental and civil rights organization Védegylet that strongly campaigned for his presidential candidacy. After his election, he gave up his headquarters office.
President
2005 Védegylet Solyom first proposed as President. 110 intellectuals with different views of the world joined in later. First, the Fidesz said his ex- party, the MDF, later for him. He always saw himself as a candidate of the civil sphere. Solyom is considered liberal- conservative.
The election took place on 6 and 7 June 2005. His counterpart candidate was the socialist President of Parliament Katalin Szili. The small coalition partner, the liberal SZDSZ, did not participate in the election because its deputies were returning the ballot immediately upon receipt.
The Hungarian parliament at that time had 386 deputies, of which the government parties had 198 (MSZP 178, SZDSZ 20), the opposition 177 ( Fidesz 169, MDF 8), the independent 11 MPs (9 out of the MDF, 2 leaked from the Fidesz Group ).
In the first round (6th June) took the Fidesz Group does not participate to find out how large is the support for Szili. For Szili voted 183 deputies, for Solyom 13
In the second ballot (June 7 ) took part in the Fidesz again. For Szili voted 178 for Solyom 185 deputies. In the first two rounds of voting is a two-thirds majority (257 votes).
Solyom was elected on the third ballot (June 7 ) by a simple majority for President of Hungary (for him voted 185 for Szili 182 MPs) and entered the succession of Ferenc Mádl on August 5, 2005. His term lasts five years.
Between and after the ballots, there was a presidential election unusually harsh and sharp political accusations ( voting for the other candidates, unconstitutionality, violation of the principle of the secret ballot, etc.). That is why voices were raised to support the indirect presidential election. Nevertheless Sólyoms was election as an opposition candidate as historic.
After Fidesz had reached a two-thirds majority in the parliamentary elections in April 2010, the new government turned away from the uncomfortable Solyom. They nominated instead Parliament President Pál Schmitt for the election on June 29, 2010. Sólyoms term ended on August 5, 2010.
Solyom speaks German, English and French.
Family
Solyom is married to the teacher Erzsébet Nagy, has two grown children and nine grandchildren.
Honors
In 1998 he was awarded the Humboldt Prize. In the same year he was in Germany, the Great Cross of Merit with Star. Him an Honorary Doctorate ( Dr. hc ) was awarded the University of Cologne in 1999. He is a corresponding member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (Magyar Tudományos Akadémia, MTA) since 2001. He has received several national honors. October 2006 he was awarded an honorary doctorate from the JW Goethe University Frankfurt q.s.