President of Hungary (2010-2012)
In the 2010 Hungarian presidential election, Schmitt was elected President of Hungary by the National Assembly, for a term commencing on 6 August. He succeeded László Sólyom. He was elected with the support of the Fidesz and Christian Democratic People's (KDNP) parties, receiving 263 out of 322 votes. András Balogh of the Socialist Party received 59 votes.
Schmitt had been the deputy president of Fidesz and the speaker of the Hungarian Parliament. From the first free elections in 1990, the nominating party has typically picked one of its high-ranking members for president: for example the SZDSZ nominated Árpád Göncz, who was a founding member of the Alliance of Free Democrats (SZDSZ). The previous MSZP government's nominee was Katalin Szili, an MSZP member who was the then speaker of the Hungarian Parliament. Schmitt signaled a positive relationship with the Fidesz-KDNP government, saying: "In the current situation, when we undertake rebuilding the country economically, socially and morally, it is imperative that the president get along with the prime minister, as well as all leaders and government members." Schmitt said he did not intend to take an obstructionist stance towards the government, and sought a more active role in the political process such as the drafting of the country's new constitution. After taking office, Schmitt resigned all posts and offices previously held. Soon after his election Schmitt came under heavy attack from some opposition parties, that refused to attend the presidential inauguration, citing high costs and a late invitation.
Drafting of a new constitution began in 2010, and was finalized by 11 April 2011, being adopted by Parliament on 18 April. Schmitt signed the new constitution into law on 25 April and it went into effect on 1 January 2012.
As a supporter of the second cabinet of Viktor Orbán, already it was probable before his appointment that the presidential position is his reversioner. This confirmed that he proclaimed it at the time of the starting of his presidential activity, he wants to be "man of the people", and would like to favour and help the current government's work.
He created a sensation by personally identifying himself with the government's politics repeatedly in an interview with Time on 15 October 2010. In particular, the subject of the last sentence was "we, the government." The interview in its entirety can be found on the website of the Office of the President.
In November 2010, during a presidential speech he declared one of his major goals to be the preservation and fostering of the Hungarian language and stressed that this would be made compulsory by law. However, after this speech the website of the Office of the President published statements that were full of grammatical and stylistic errors and were ridiculed by the general public.
By 31 December 2010, Schmitt had signed nearly one hundred bills which had been voted on by the National Assembly; he did not send any back for consideration by the parliament, nor submit any to the Constitutional Court for judicial review.
