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Hungarian prime minister wins vote of confidence

Hungarian Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany, whose admission that he lied to the country about the economy led to huge protests, won a vote of confidence in parliament yesterday.

The motion in support of Gyurcsany passed by 207 to 165. The prime minister needed 193 votes to win.

Gyurcsany -- whose Socialist-led coalition suffered large setbacks last Sunday's nationwide municipal elections -- requested yesterday's vote of confidence to reinforce political support for his austerity package and the transformation of the country's inefficient public sector.

Speaking ahead of the vote, Gyurcsany said he had not been courageous enough to confront economic realities before April's general elections, and promised not repeat mistakes of the past.

"The past months and years hold too many lessons," he said. "There are reasons to change."

But he insisted he did not deliberately mislead the country.

"I must reject accusations that the first Gyurcsany government falsified data, that it knowingly misled or deceived the people," he said.

Hungarians have been protesting against Gyurcsany since Sept. 17, when he was heard, in a leaked recording, admitting that the government lied about the economy to win April's general elections.

Two nights of rioting, including an attack on state TV headquarters, left some 150 police and dozens of participants injured.

In a May speech to Socialist lawmakers, Gyurcsany said his first government -- the first to win re-election in post-communist Hungary -- "lied throughout the last year and a half, two years."

"It was totally clear that what we are saying is not true. ... And at the same time, we did nothing for four years. Nothing," Gyurcsany said May 26 at the closed meeting. "Instead, we lied morning, evening and night. I don't want to do it anymore."

But yesterday, he said the lies he had been referring to were about unsustainable policies implemented by Hungary since 2001 that led to a false sense of security and created illusions about the stability of the economy.

But even as parliament voted on the prime minister, tens of thousands of people were gathering on Kossuth Square just outside the building, demanding Gyurcsany's dismissal.

The Fidesz party called on supporters to bring alarm clocks to the rally, a symbolic wake-up call for the ruling coalition to fire the prime minister.
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