Hungary: President recommends Viktor Orban as prime minister

BUDAPEST, Hungary – Hungary's president has recommended that lawmakers re-elect Prime Minister Viktor Orban to what would be his third consecutive term and fourth overall.

Orban's Fidesz party and a small ally won 133 of 199 seats in the national assembly in the April 8 election, securing a two-thirds majority which will allow them to amend the constitution unchallenged. The date of the lawmakers' vote on Orban has yet to be determined.

President Janos Ader, speaking Tuesday during the first parliamentary session after the national election, also urged lawmakers to amend election laws, in part to weed out small parties which he suggested ran only to gain access to state funds.

Meanwhile, a few hundred people protested outside parliament, most against Orban but some also demanding changes among the ineffective opposition parties.