Shock, Horror: Pollie admits lieing to get re-elected!

Hungary's prime minister, Ferenc Gyurcsany, refused to step down yesterday, defying rioters whom he condemned for plunging the country into its "longest, darkest night" since the collapse of communism.

Mr Gyurcsany, a former communist youth leader who made a fortune from the privatisations of the 1990s, appealed for calm as journalists surveyed the damage at the smoke-charred TV station.

Mr Gyurcsany enraged opponents by acknowledging on a leaked recording of a party meeting that the government "lied day and night" to win a second term in office, by covering up the scale of the budget deficit and the cutbacks needed to shrink it.

"You can't show me any significant government measure that we can be proud of," he said on the tape, adding that unpopular reforms such as fees for tuition and health care were now unavoidable. "There is not much choice, because we screwed up. Not a little - a lot. No European country has done something as boneheaded as we have."

The expletive-riddled rant prompted immediate street protests and calls for Mr Gyurcsany's resignation when it was aired on Sunday. He has vowed to stay in power, saying he is proud of the leaked speech because it showed his passion for reform. "I spent three minutes on Sunday night thinking about whether I should step down or whether I had a reason to step down, and the conclusion I came to is that absolutely not," he said yesterday. Hungarian leader refuses to bow to rioters

At least you gotta admire the voters for caring enough to riot. Apathy and a sense of powerlessness tantamount to dispair and disenfranchisement are the rule in the more "enlightened" democracies. Is there any accountability to a pollie who sells us a war on non-existant WMD or turns an election on "babies overboard" besides rioting? I'm Hungary to find out.