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Election results are now official, so what happens next?

Last Saturday, the National Elections Office published the official results of the April 8 parliamentary elections. With all votes counted and a high 70.22 percent turnout, Prime Minister Orbán has secured a third consecutive two-thirds supermajority in Hungary’s National Assembly. Here’s a quick summary of what’s next.

The composition of Hungary’s next parliament is official: Fidesz-KDNP won 133 seats out of 199. Jobbik took 26 mandates, the Hungarian Socialist Party-Párbeszéd (MSZP-PM) 20, former Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsány’s DK 9 and LMP 8. Együtt and the ethnic German minority will be represented by a single lawmaker each. An independent candidate has also won a seat.

Exercising his right under Hungary’s constitution, President János Áder has already set the date for the inaugural session of the country’s new parliament for May 8th. The president will begin the session by making a motion to nominate an individual to be the country’s next prime minister, usually the prime ministerial candidate of the prevalent party, who is elected with a simple majority of the votes. At the same time, the head of state requests the prime minister to form a new government.

Tradition dictates that the inaugural session will also elect a parliamentary speaker, deputy speakers and the notaries in a secret ballot.

According to Prime Minister Orbán, the negotiations prior to the formation of a new government would take up to three or four weeks. During an international press conference held several days after the election, Prime Minister Orbán said that some modifications can be expected in the next government, modifications that are “mostly with new people, partially in new structures.”

“Hungarians have laid out the most important topics – the issue of migration and national sovereignty, for example, and ruled that they are the only ones to decide who they want to live together with,” PM Orbán said. He added that demography will also figure prominently as a priority issue in his next term through continued support for Hungarian families.

Concerning the economy, Orbán said that his support for “the economic school of Matolcsy” is beyond question, so Hungary’s finances will stay in order. (Here's more on the markets' reaction to Fidesz-KDNP's landslide victory)

As Antal Rogán, chief of the Cabinet Office of the Prime Minister, said, more information regarding the expected setup of the new government can be expected by the beginning of May.