Newly-elected Hungarian parliament holds first session

Hungarian parliament

BUDAPEST, May 2 (Xinhua) -- The recently elected Hungarian parliament held its first session here on Monday, electing its key officials.

Laszlo Kover, a founding member of the governing Fidesz party, was re-elected Speaker of the parliament. He was first elected to the position in 2010 and re-elected in 2014 and 2018.

The parliament also elected six deputy speakers.

President Janos Ader opened the new parliament for the third and last time, as his mandate will expire in a few days and he will be replaced by Katalin Novak, Hungary's first female president.

Ader asked the recently elected deputies to re-elect Viktor Orban for the position of prime minister, a post he will be carrying for the fifth time, a record in Hungarian politics.

Orban has been in the office continuously since 2010, but has also served in the same position between 1998 and 2002.

Last Friday, Ader officially called on Orban, the candidate for prime minister of the Fidesz-KDNP party alliance, to form the new government following the general elections on April 3.

Orban, who won the elections by a large margin -- securing 135 seats from the 199-seat parliament -- accepted the request.