OMRI DAILY DIGEST
No. 111, 7 June 1996

PARLIAMENTARY DEBATE ON HUNGARY'S NEW CONSTITUTION ENDS. The parliament
on 6 June ended a month-long general debate on the new draft
constitution, Hungarian dailies reported. The final draft was prepared
by an all parliamentary party committee and then presented in late
March. The coalition parties--the Socialists and Free Democrats--would
like to complete the final text of the constitution by December and push
the bill through this year. Meanwhile, some opposition parties suggested
that only amendments be made to the current constitution and the
drafting of a new constitution be postponed until after the 1998
elections. The opposition Smallholders' Party rejected the draft
constitution and recommended that both the plan and the final version be
approved by a referendum, arguing that society was not given the time
and opportunity to familiarize itself with the concept. The coalition
politicians rejected this argument and pointed out that the full text of
the draft was published in the daily press in June 1995. -- Zsofia
Szilagyi

[As of 1200 CET]

Compiled by Deborah Michaels