HUNGARY: Hungarian Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany accuses opposition politicians of failing to prevent riots

Protests continued in the Hungarian capital on Wednesday (September 20) after Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany's admission he had lied to win an election. On Sunday (September 17), a Hungarian radio website broadcast a leaked tape of Gyurcsany telling his Socialist party parliamentarians that they had lied to voters about the precarious state of public finances in order to win re-election in April. The leaked tape triggered two nights of violent anti-government protests, the worst disturbances in the capital Budapest since a 1956 uprising against Hungary's former Soviet occupiers. Although Gyurcsany urged his party into a greater commitment to economic reform in the leaked tape, the cynicism of the admission that the party had "lied in the morning and lied in the evening" shocked Hungarians. Opposition leader Viktor Orban of the "Fidesz" Party spoke to journalists at a news conference on Wednesday (September 20) to clarify the position of the Fidesz party. "I don't want to take over power, we are not aiming for a Fidesz government. We are aiming to find a democratic solution to the situation. After October first we will sit down with the Socialists and talk about forming a shadow cabinet and plan new elections," said Orban. For his part Gyurcsany, speaking to reporters on Wednesday, attacked 'those politicians who could prevent the riots' from not doing so. "I regret that those politicians could prevent the riots did not do this. They could have easily demanded that the people get off the streets. They could explain that they are not supporting the demonstrators. I regret that these politicians haven't done this," said Gyurcsany. Despite seeing the government's popularity plunge to 25 percent from around 40 percent at the election, he has vowed to press ahead with tough and unpopular budget reforms. The turmoil has slightly weakened the forint currency and equity markets were also softer on Wednesday. Gyurcsany wants his party to abandon the spendthrift ways which caused Hungary's budget deficit to surge to 10.1 percent of gross domestic product this year. In a poll by the Szonda-Ipsos agency after Monday's violence, 80 percent said the riots were unacceptable but 39 percent also blamed the government for the trouble.

ITN Source | September 21, 2006

Tags:. .prime. .demanded. .trouble. .situation. .economic