
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, April 10, 1990                   TAG: 9004100148
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: BUDAPEST, HUNGARY                                LENGTH: Medium

CONSERVATIVES BEGIN COALITION TO RULE HUNGARY

After a night of celebration, leaders of the conservative party that won elections ending 43 years of Communist rule began working Monday to form a center-right governing coalition.

The Hungarian Democratic Forum won nearly 43 percent of the vote, securing 165 of the 386 house seats contested in Sunday's balloting and in a first round of elections two weeks ago, according to unofficial results.

"No one should be blinded by the euphoria of victory," the party's president, Jozsef Antall, told a news conference Monday.

Referring to the agrarian Independent Smallholders and the Christian Democrats, Antall said: "We have the possibility of forming a solid government with our possible coalition partners."

Both parties are ideologically close to the Democratic Forum in their emphasis on Christian values and a generally conservative outlook.

The Smallholders were third with 11 percent of the vote and the Christian Democrats tied for fifth with more than 5 percent.

According to the unofficial results, the Smallholders got 43 seats and the Christian Democrats 21. Official results were not expected before Tuesday.

Leaders of the Smallholders and the Christian Democrats told separate news conferences they were interested in a coalition with the Democratic Forum.

Such a union would force the second-strongest party, the liberal League of Free Democrats, and its ideological ally, the League of Young Democrats, into the opposition. They would likely be joined by the former Communists, now grouped into the Socialist Party.

Antall said it would take at least a month to form a new government, which is expected to introduce market forces into the economy, crippled after decades of centralized control under the Communists. It also faces a $20 billion foreign debt.

by CNB