Laszlo Kover (C) takes the oath of office after being reelected as Speaker of the new Hungarian parliament during the first session of the Hungarian parliament after the general elections in Budapest, Hungary, on May 8, 2018. The recently-elected Hungarian parliament held its first session here on Tuesday, with the re-election of Parliament Speaker Laszlo Kover. (Xinhua/Attila Volgyi)
BUDAPEST, May 8 (Xinhua) -- The recently-elected Hungarian parliament held its first session here on Tuesday, with the re-election of Parliament Speaker Laszlo Kover.
Kover was re-elected during a secret ballot, in which he received 143 votes of the 179 deputies who cast valid votes, with 35 votes against and one abstention.
Kover was born in the town of Papa, western Hungary and is a founding member of the governing Fidesz party. He is a veteran of Hungarian politics, just like his close ally Prime Minister Viktor Orban.
The parliament also elected six deputy speakers, namely Istvan Jakab and Sandor Lezsak from Fidesz party; Janos Latorcai from Fidesz' coalition partner KDNP; Tamas Schneider from opposition party Jobbik; and Istvan Hiller from socialist party MSZP. Csaba Hende has been nominated as deputy speaker responsible for the legislative procedure.
The elected deputies of the new Hungarian parliament took their solemn oath in the presence of the Hungarian President Janos Ader.
Ader said: "The final result of the election is clear, definitive and cannot be challenged legally."
In his speech he also proposed to the deputies to re-elect Viktor Orban as prime minister.
On Monday, Ader officially called on Orban, the prime ministerial candidate of the Fidesz-KDNP party alliance, to form the new government following general elections on April 8. Orban accepted the request.
"The high turnout of the elections gives great legitimacy to the parliament and the new government," Ader added.
Ader took a potshot at the European Union, saying: "Public life of the EU is characterized by the lack of vision for the future, by constantly quarreling politicians, intellectual laziness and the repetition of common places."
According to the final results of the elections, out of the 199 seats of the parliament, Fidesz-KDNP has 133 MPs, radical nationalist Jobbik 26, the Socialist-Dialogue alliance 20, the leftist Democratic Coalition 9, green-eco LMP 8 and Egyutt (liberal) one. There is also one independent MP and one MP representing the German minority.
