Hungarian president asks Viktor Orban to form new government

BUDAPEST, Hungary – Hungarian President Janos Ader has formally asked Prime Minister Viktor Orban to form the country’s next government after Orban’s sweeping victory in the parliamentary election last month.

Ader said Monday during a break in his meeting with Orban that he would propose that lawmakers elect Orban as prime minister when Parliament convenes Tuesday for the first time since the election.

Orban, who will begin his third consecutive term and fourth overall, maintained focus on his anti-migration stance, the near-exclusive issue of his electoral campaign, saying his government’s key task would be to “safeguard Hungary’s security and Christian culture.”

The alliance of Orban’s Fidesz party and the much smaller Christian Democratic People’s Party won 133 of 199 seats in parliament, securing a supermajority that will allow it to change the constitution unchallenged.