Hungary President, Pal Schmitt, said on Monday that he is resigning over a plagiarism scandal over his doctoral thesis, according to local reports.
“The President represents the unity of the country. For me, this means that my duty in the current situation is to terminate my service and resign,” he said, according to the Budapest Business Journal.
Schmitt made the announcement just days after Semmelweis University stripped him of his doctoral title, saying that more than 90 percent of his work on the Olympic games was taken directly from other authors, the Journal said.
He previously announced there was “no link in my view” between his presidency and the loss of his doctoral title. On Sunday, he told a local radio station that he would not resign.
Before his resignation, he said that he would try to get his PhD again. “I wish to prove it to myself and to all those who are sending their love from this country and from beyond our borders,” he said, according to the Portfolio publication.
On Friday, there was somewhat of a public uproar over the plagiarism scandal. The Journal reported that hundreds of protesters on Friday gathered outside of a building where he was giving a television interview, demanding him to step down.
All four opposition parties and some conservative newspapers called on Schmitt to step down. Prime Minister Viktor Orban said that Schmitt had the choice to stay.
