The new Hungarian parliament is set to hold its inaugural session on Saturday, and elect Péter Magyar, the leader of the Tisza party, as the new prime minister, according to the agenda posted on parliament’s website on Wednesday.
Schedule revealed
President Tamás Sulyok is scheduled to open the session at 10am. Lawmakers will sing the national anthem before Sulyok greets the assembly and asks the ranking lawmaker to head the meeting. The House will then hear the reports from the head of the National Election Committee, Róbert Sasvári, and that of the National Election Office, Attila Nagy, on the April 12 election.
Of the 199 seats in parliament, Tisza won 141 places, Fidesz 44, the Christian Democrats 8, and the Our Homeland Movement 6. Sulyok will make a proposal as to who should take the post of prime minister. He asked Magyar to form a government on April 15.
By 3 PM, Péter Magyar can be premier
Lawmakers will elect the Speaker of Parliament in a secret vote and the deputy speakers and notaries in an open roll. Once the Speaker takes over the session’s leadership, parliament will elect the prime minister with a simple majority. The new head of government will then take his oath and address MPs.
Lawmakers will then decide whether the new parliament should debate a proposal on announcing the new ministries and another on lifting the state of emergency introduced by the previous government connected with the Russia-Ukraine war. The session will end with decisions on setting up parliamentary committees and electing their officials.
The national flag will be hoisted with military honours, and a parade will be held in front of Parliament after Magyar’s election, ahead of a “people’s celebration of the regime change” to be held in Kossuth Square and on the banks of the Danube.
Our Homeland objects to EU and Roma anthems, ‘Spring Wind’ at inaugural session
The incoming Our Homeland parliamentary group has raised objections to plans for the EU anthem, the Roma anthem, and the song Spring Wind (Tavaszi szél) to be played alongside Hungary’s national anthem at the National Assembly’s inaugural session on Saturday, Előd Novák, the party’s deputy leader said in a statement. Novak called the proposal a “diminishment of Hungary’s national anthem”, arguing in his statement on Wednesday that the EU “is not a country or a nation and thus has no anthem.” He noted that members of the European parliamentary group to which Our Homeland belongs regularly remains seated during its performance.
He further argued that Spring Wind was now regarded as a Tisza Party campaign song and was thus unworthy of the inaugural session, which he said should reflect national unity. He also called the decision to reinstate the EU flag on the parliament building “illegal and a sign of Tisza Party overzealousness”, adding that the flag was not mandatory for the National Assembly.
If the Roma anthem is played, he added, then the anthems of Hungary’s other 12 recognised minorities should also be included. “It is enough that we will hear several representatives from Tisza take their oath in Lovari, Beash, and Romanian. No further gestures are warranted.” Novak also slammed the incoming government majority for not supporting his party’s initiative to publicly disclose MPs’ dual citizenships. Meanwhile, the radical nationalist politician expressed regret that only his party’s members would be taking their oath before the Holy Crown.
If you missed:
Police investigating against Orbán’s friend, the wealthiest Hungarian, Lőrinc Mészáros
Magyar government to abolish fuel price cap, MOL may not buy Serbian NIS after Orbán’s defeat
