HINGARY: Hungary's ruling Socialist Party yesterday picked charismatic 43-year-old millionaire Mr Ferenc Gyurcsany, who has promised to win them the 2006 election, to be the country's next prime minister.
A party official said Mr Gyurcsany had been picked over socialist stalwart Mr Peter Kiss, adding he had won 453 of 623 valid votes cast at a party congress. He replaces Mr Peter Medgyessy, who was ousted from the premiership last week.
Mr Gyurcsany has promised the party, whose poll rating of 20 per cent is the worst in five years, that he would beat the opposition in the 2006 election and win two consecutive terms, something no Hungarian government has managed since the fall of communism.
His nomination marks a stark break with the past for a political party which transformed itself seamlessly from the communist-era Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party in 1989-90.
Based on his public comments, Mr Gyurcsany combines a liberal business outlook with a concern for the less well-off.
He has been compared to Britain's Mr Tony Blair.
He is, however, relatively inexperienced in politics.
Investors in Hungarian bonds and the forint currency will be watching closely to see whether Mr Gyurcsany sticks to plans by Finance Minister Mr Tibor Draskovics to cut the budget deficit.
Mr Gyurcsany needs the support of the liberal Free Democrats, who have 20 deputies in the ruling coalition. The junior party has said it will support the socialist choice.