RADIO FREE EUROPE/RADIO LIBERTY, PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC
___________________________________________________________
RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol 2, No. 74, 17 April 1998

REGISTRATION FOR HUNGARIAN ELECTIONS ENDS. The Central
Electoral Office on 16 April said that 1,544 candidates have
collected the 750 signatures necessary to endorse candidates
in single-member constituencies in the forthcoming May
elections. Registration ends on 17 April, Hungarian media
reported. The office said it has so far verified the
national lists of four political parties. Under the
Hungarian electoral system, national lists can be presented
only by those parties that can prove they are running on at
least seven regional lists. A total of 31 political parties
and groups are seeking representation, compared with 15 in
the 1994 elections. Six groups are represented in the
current parliament. MS

HUNGARY INTENSIFIES FIGHT AGAINST ORGANIZED CRIME. The
government on 16 April decided to allow the Civil Secret
Service to tap mobile phones as of next year in its fight
against organized crime, Hungarian media reported. The
decision makes it possible also to tap messages on the
Internet. Providers of communications services will have to
install the necessary equipment at their own expense,
Hungarian media reported. MS

ROMANIAN PREMIER VISITS TRANSYLVANIA. Radu Vasile spent his
first day in office visiting the counties of Harghita and
Covasna, Romanian media reported on 16 April. He said he
wanted to "demonstrate" to ethnic Romanians who form a
minority there that "they are not abandoned." and that
Vasile said the local authorities' use of the Hungarian
language "should pose no problems," but he warned the
Sfantu-Gheorghe authorities that it "must show the same
sensitivity" to the demands of ethnic Romanians that it
displays toward those of ethnic Hungarians living in
counties with a Romanian majority. Vasile also said he found
out that while some of the ethnic Romanians' demands are
"legitimate and correct," many of their alleged problems
exist "in their imagination." By way of example, he cited
alleged "flooding" of the counties by investments from
Hungary. MS

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
               Copyright (c) 1998 RFE/RL, Inc.
                     All rights reserved.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx