BUDAPEST (dpa-AFX) – The winner of the Hungarian parliamentary election, Peter Magyar, is expected to take office as Prime Minister in two and a half weeks. President Tamas Sulyok convened the new parliament for its constituent session on May 9th, as he announced on his Facebook page. After his election victory, Magyar announced several times that he would be elected to the highest government office and take the oath of office at the first meeting of the new parliament.
This means that the previous conservative opposition politician will replace the right-wing populist Viktor Orban, who has been in power for 16 years, at the head of the government. Magyar’s Tisza party clearly won the April 12 parliamentary election against Orban’s Fidesz party. In the new parliament, Tisza has 141 of 199 seats and thus a two-thirds majority that can change the constitution.
In this respect, it can be expected that the constitution of Parliament will go smoothly on May 9th with the certification of mandates, the election of a parliamentary presidency and the appointment of various committees. The election of Tisza leader Magyar as prime minister by MPs is also likely to be a formality.
Promise of a new start
The political whiz kid comes from the Orban party himself, but demonstratively broke with it two years ago. He ran the election campaign promising to end the mismanagement and corruption of the Orban system. In the European Union (EU), in which Orban’s Hungary recently played the role of a pro-Russian disruptive factor, Magyar believes the Central European country should once again become a reliable partner.
According to his plans, on May 9th, tens of thousands of citizens will celebrate a “festival of democracy” on the central Kossuth Square in front of it, parallel to the procedures in parliament./gm/DP/he
