RADIO FREE EUROPE/RADIO LIBERTY, PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC
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RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 2, No. 154, 12 August 1998

SLOVAK OPPOSITION LEADERS SEE ELECTION BOYCOTT AS POSSIBLE.
Slovak opposition leaders on 11 August warned that the
attempts by Vladimir Meciar's ruling Movement for a
Democratic (HZDS) Slovakia to bar the main opposition Slovak
Democratic Coalition (SDK) from running in the September
parliamentary elections could lead to a boycott of the vote
(see "RFE/RL Newsline," 11 August 1998), Reuters reported.
SDK leader Mikulas Dzurinda said the move to appeal to the
Supreme Court over his party's registration is "simply an
attempt to destroy the democratic constitutional system in
Slovakia." The leader of the opposition Hungarian Coalition
Party, Bela Bugar, told private-owned Radio Twist that "a
call for civil disobedience" might be necessary. He added
that he "cannot rule out the possibility that opposition
parties will not take part in the elections or that they will
call on citizens to boycott the poll." MS

HUNGARIAN POLICE INVESTIGATE PRIVATIZATION SCANDAL
ALLEGATIONS. Police on 11 August began investigating
allegations, published the previous day in "Nepszabadsag,"
that members of the ruling  Federation of Young Democratic-
Hungarian Civic Party (FIDESZ) were involved in illegal
privatization practices (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 11 August
1998). A spokesman for the police said that "at first
glance," it appears that charges might be brought for either
forgery of documents, deception, or misappropriation of
documents, Hungarian media reported. The opposition Socialist
Party has called for both a parliamentary inquiry and a
criminal investigation. MS

HUNGARIAN OPPOSITION ACCUSES GOVERNMENT OF UNDEMOCRATIC
PRACTICES. Former Socialist Prime Minister Gyula Horn on 11
August accused FIDESZ of attempting to take over control and
supervision of state property by  putting its own people in
charge of  structures overseeing state assets. He argued that
when the Socialists were in power, they left in office
leading civil servants appointed by the Democratic Forum
government before 1994, despite the "obvious failures" of
that government's policies. Horn pointed out that 10 out of
12 state secretaries have been replaced. He also denounced
the "undemocratic" concentration of power in the Prime
Minister's Office. MS

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