New Hungary government leak sparks opposition anger

BUDAPEST, Oct 8 (Reuters) Hungary's political crisis took a new turn today with the leak of a second tape of controversial comments by a top ruling Socialist after the prime minister said in a previous one ''we lied'' to win an election.

The latest leaked tape involves an attempt by a minister in Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany's Socialist-led government to reassure the party it would keep control of regional funding despite dramatic opposition gains in local polls this month.

Today's leak came just three weeks after a leaked tape of Gyurcsany -- in which he admitted to lying to win April's general election -- caused the biggest protests in Hungary since the end of communism in 1989.

In a speech to a closed a Socialist party meeting on Saturday, leaked to public Magyar Radio, Local Government Minister Monika Lamperth tried to reassure Socialists they would retain control of state development funds.

Some Socialists feared large sums of money would end up in the hands of the main Fidesz opposition which swept the board in local elections on October one, ousting Socialist mayors and councils.

''Believe me, we know our task. I will submit a proposal to the government ... which gives a strong possibility and mandate to government party politicians and Socialist politicians on the regional development councils,'' Lamperth said on the tape.

A Socialist spokesman blamed the opposition for the leak, but did not deny its veracity.

The new tape prompted shouts of ''jail him'' and ''traitor'' from a crowd of around 25,000 Fidesz supporters gathered outside parliament today as part of a daily vigil to demand that Gyurcsany quit.

TOUGH PROGRAMME Gyurcsany on Friday won a vote of confidence in parliament and vowed to stick to his tough economic programme to cut Hungary's huge budget deficit, which at 10.1 per cent of gross domestic product is the biggest in the European Union.

Political analysts said there was no constitutional way of ousting him before elections in 2010 unless his Socialist Party chooses a successor, but with the elections so far away there is no sign of them breaking ranks.

Gyurcsany wants to slash funding at the local government level where spending is inefficient, against the wishes of local representatives, many of whom are now opposition politicians.

''The government under Ferenc Gyurcsany wants to punish everybody who chose Fidesz (in local elections),'' Tibor Navracsics, Fidesz parliament group leader told the rally outside parliament today.

''Again they are lying because a week ago Gyurcsany said he would cooperate with any local government irrespective of its political colour,'' Navracsics said.

The councils, which have government and local representatives as members, work out the development programmes for the country's seven regions and take care of implementation.

The earlier tape, in which Gyurcsany told Socialist MPs ''we lied in the morning, we lied in the evening'' about the economy to win in April, sparked the three weeks of protests in which around 200 people were injured.

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