Hungary's PM Reacts to Losses

Hungarian Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany has called for a vote of confidence in the country's parliament on Friday. But he insisted he would not step down after voters sent his Socialist Party to a crushing defeat in Sunday's local elections.

The election was widely viewed as a referendum on Gyurcsany's government, and the voters spoke loudly and clearly. The opposition center-right party Fidesz defeated Gyurcsany's Socialists in 18 out of 19 counties. The fact that Gyurcsany's junior coalition partners, the Free Democrats, managed to hold on to the mayor's office in Budapest was small consolation in what amounted to a political debacle.

Hungary's independent President Laszlo Solyom welcomed the decision to call for the vote of confidence. "Things must change," Solyom said. "Now the parliamentary majority has to decide on the future of the Prime Minister." The opposition continues to insist that Ferenc must leave office.

Gyurcsany is hoping that a positive vote in the Hungarian parliament, where he and his coalition partners have a majority, will allow him to survive politically. "I also hear the voice of those who believe it is necessary for the parliamentary majority to confirm its trust in the government and in its programme," Gyurcsany said. "I believe it's necessary for this political trust to become an authorization."

Admission of lying

Gyurcsany is unpopular among many Hungarians because his government has pursued an austerity program aimed at cutting Hungary's budget deficit from 10.1 to 3.2 percent of gross domestic product by the year 2009. But the seeds of his party's electoral defeat last Sunday were really sown in mid-September when a tape recording in which Gyurcsany admitted he had lied about the state of the country's economy was leaked to the press.

"We lied," Gyurcsany is heard saying on the tape, "morning, noon and night".

That admission, which was aired repeatedly by the media inside and outside Hungary, sparked two weeks of angry and sometimes violent protests outside the parliament building in Budapest, with demonstrators demanding that Gyurcsany resign.

Fidesz claims victory

Fidesz leader and former Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said the results of Sunday's vote indicated that Hungarians wanted a change in the national government. "Hungarian citizens have replaced the prime minister," Orban claimed after the first vote counts were announced.

Orban had threatened to call for further mass demonstrations in Budapest, if parliament were not given the opportunity to replace the Prime Minister. With Gyurcsany's decision to call for a vote of confidence, those plans would now seem to have been put on hold.

But should parliament confirm Gyurcsany in office, as he expects it to, there may very well be angry protestors back on the streets of Budapest.