OMRI DAILY DIGEST
No. 202, 17 October 1996

HUNGARY'S FREE DEMOCRATS THREATEN TO QUIT COALITION. Ivan Peto, leader
of the junior coalition party Alliance of Free Democrats (SZDSZ) said on
16 October that unless there is a major improvement in the functioning
of the coalition, its dissolution should be raised at his party's
November convention, Hungarian dailies reported. The coalition crisis
stems from the recent privatization scandal; also, the SZDSZ resented
Socialist Prime Minister Gyula Horn's announcement, without prior
consultation, of his candidates for two new ministers to replace the
recently sacked privatization minister. Meanwhile, opposition
Smallholders chairman Jozsef Torgyan asked Horn to call a vote of
confidence on himself and his cabinet. In other news, ongoing
investigation of the scandal revealed that the former chief executive
officer of the state privatization agency stopped an internal
investigation into the affair in May, on orders of Imre Szokai, then
chairman of the agency's board. -- Zsofia Szilagyi

[As of 12:00 CET]

Compiled by Tom Warner