RFE/RL NEWSLINE 
Vol 1, No. 189, 6 January 1998

HUNGARIAN SMALLHOLDERS CALL FOR OPPOSITION
UNITY. In a 5 January statement signed by party chairman
Jozsef Torgyan, the Independent Smallholders called for
setting up a "united front of nationalist parties" in the
second round of the spring 1998 elections, Hungarian media
reported. The party proposes that opposition candidates who
fare worst in the first round step down in favor of those who
do better. It also urges that "nationally minded forces" unite
to remove the "liberal-bolshevik" government from power.
Democratic Forum spokesman Karoly Herenyi welcomed the
initiative, saying the cohesion of opposition forces in the
second round is a "rational idea." Young Democrat national
board chairman Attila Varhegyi said his party also wants
the  removal of the current coalition. MSZ

ROMANIAN EDUCATION LAW AGAIN ON AGEN DA. Ion
Diaconescu, the chairman of the National Peasant Party
Christian Democratic (PNTCD), said on 5 January that the
coalition will respect agreements with the Hungarian
Democratic Federation of Romania (UDMR) when the
government regulation amending the 1995 education law
comes up for debate in the Chamber of Deputies. Diaconescu
said the PNTCD will nonetheless continue to insist on the
obligatory teaching in all schools of history and geography in
Romanian. Meanwhile, UDMR executive chairman Csaba
Takacs told Mediafax on 5 January that if the chamber
adopts the version approved by the Senate, the UDMR will
"no longer discuss quitting the coalition but will implement
that step." MS

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