BUDAPEST (AFX) - Hungary's ruling Socialists said Sunday they had 'full confidence' in Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany, after the country's president asked parliament to consider ousting the premier over his lies on the economy.
Party spokesman Istvan Nyako said the Socialists stood fully behind Gyurcsany, minutes after President Laszlo Solyom made his surprise call on national television.
'The parliamentary majority has already expressed its opinion, there is full confidence in Ferenc Gyurcsany,' Nyako said in an interview on public television.
Gyurcsany's admission in a leaked tape that he lied to the country over the dire state of its economy in order to win re-election in April led to two-weeks of anti-government protests which degenerated into street riots, injuring some 250 in the worst unrest here since the end of communism.
'The prime minister refuses to admit that he used inadmissible means to keep power.... This undermines confidence in democracy,' Solyom said.
'The parliament decides who is the prime minister. The parliament can restore society's confidence (in government). The parliamentary majority holds the key to the solution,' he said.
The president's call, though an important boost to the opposition campaign to oust Gyurcsany, represented little real threat to the prime minister's hold on power.
Hungary's Socialists form a comfortable majority in parliament along with their Liberal allies, making it impossible to sack Gyurcsany if they close ranks behind him. newsdesk@afxnews.com afp/ak COPYRIGHT Copyright AFX News Limited 2005. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of AFX News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of AFX News. AFX News and AFX Financial News Logo are registered trademarks of AFX News Limited