RADIO FREE EUROPE/RADIO LIBERTY, PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC
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RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol 2, No. 246, 23 December 1998

FINAL RESULTS OF SLOVAK LOCAL ELECTIONS ANNOUNCED. The
final results of the 18-19 December local elections show
that Vladimir Meciar's Movement for a Democratic
Slovakia (HZDS) remains the strongest single party but
has less support than the combined forces of the
government coalition, AP and Reuters reported. The
coalition won in more than 800 mayoral races.
Independent candidates won 816 districts, the HZDS 602,
and the opposition Slovak National Party (SNS) 114. Of
the 35,465 local councilors elected, the HZDS has 8,140
and the SNS 2,136. Among ruling coalition members, the
Party of the Democratic Left gained 5,793 seats, the
Christian Democrats 4,276, the Hungarian Coalition
3,773, and the Party of Civic Understanding 1,041. 3,177
councilors are independents. MS

HUNGARIAN OPPOSITION FOILS NATO-RELATED AMENDMENT IN
FINAL VOTE... The parliament on 22 December rejected in
the final vote a constitutional amendment that would
have transferred from the legislature to the government
the power to approve the movement of foreign troops on
Hungarian territory. The vote was 184 to 17 with 101
abstentions and thus failed to produce the necessary
two-thirds majority. As was the case last week, the
coalition parties voted for the amendment, the
Socialists abstained, and the Free Democrats did not
participate in the vote. The Justice and Life Party
voted against the amendment. Socialist chairman Laszlo
Kovacs told journalists that his party will submit a
motion that transfers to the cabinet the power to
approve foreign troop movements related to humanitarian
goals and disaster relief, while the legislature will
still have to approve by a two-thirds majority the
transit of peacekeepers, Hungarian media reported. MS

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