Hungarian PM announces resignation

BUDAPEST - Hungarian Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany Saturday announced his resignation and proposed forming a new government with a new head.

At a congress of his ruling Socialist Party, Gyurcsany offered to hand over power to a successor but would like to retain the position as the party’s chairman.

‘I’m being told that I myself am the obstacle to the cooperation and stable government majority needed to implement changes,’ Gyurcsany told party members. ‘If this is so, I will eliminate this obstacle.’

The prime minister said he will officially notify parliament of his decision Monday and called for a meeting of his party in two weeks to choose a candidate to head the new administration, state news agency MTI reported.

Gyurcsany also planned to organise a ‘constructive vote of no confidence’ in parliament in which at least one-fifth of all MPs propose a no confidence vote, a new prime ministerial candidate is picked and the parliament votes the incumbent out and his successor in.

Gyurcsany was re-elected as party chairman with 85 percent support at the congress earlier on Saturday. The Socialists are scheduled to choose their candidate for the premiership on April 5.

A poll released by research firm Median on Wednesday showed that Gyurcsany’s popularity stood at just 18 percent, the lowest ever for a prime minister since 1990.

Analysts said that a new prime minister would create a fresh opportunity for forming a majority coalition government with the Free Democratic Party or the conservative Democratic Forum Party or both.

Hungary has been hit hard by the global financial crisis and has received a loan of $25.1 billion from the International Monetary Fund and other institutions.