BUDAPEST (AFP) - Hungarian President Ferenc Madl nominated Socialist sports minister and millionaire businessman Ferenc Gyurcsany as the country's new prime minister.
"I recommend the legislature elect Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany as prime minister," Madl said in a letter that was read aloud in parliament.
"I accept the nomination," Gyurcsany said in reply.
The 43-year-old Gyurcsany has been de facto premier for the past month and is expected to be sworn in on October 4, replacing former prime minister Peter Medgyessy who quit last month in a coalition row.
He was due later Monday to submit his government's programme to parliament and the legislature was due to vote on the programme and the nomination of the prime minister-elect on Wednesday.
Gyurcsany has the support of the junior coalition party, the Free Democrats, which together with that of the Socialists assures him the majority he needs to be confirmed in his post by parliament.
He has already effectively taken the reins of power after Medgyessy on August 27 named him as his replacement until the president designated a prime minister-elect.
In the past month, Gyurcsany has announced policies under his motto of "giving more opportunities to the needy and more responsibilities to the well-to-do."
The policies include raising the taxes of financial institutions and lowering the taxes of the the middle classes in 2005.