Father of the House the constitutive session, before the Speaker is elected. Until his death on 23 March 2015, former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew was the longest serving Member of Parliament (Tanjong Pagar) and thus the Father of the House. , Emeritus Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong is Father of the House, as the longest serving MP (from the district named Marine Parade). In Sweden the Riksdagsordningen law states that the member of the Riksdag who has held his elected seat for the longest shall be the "Ålderspresident", which translates to "President by age". The Ålderspresident acts as speaker of the Riksdag after
State Opening of Parliament in the Riksdag but in the presence of the monarch and his family. It is still the King who officially opens the parliament. After the opening of parliament the King gives a speech followed by the Prime Minister's declaration of government. In Israel, a semi-annual ceremony, attended by the President, opens the winter and summer sessions of the Knesset. Though in the past he was a guest sitting in the Knesset's upper deck, the President now attends the ceremony from the speaker's podium and gives his own written address regarding the upcoming session. In the first session of each legislative