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Hungary PM faces confidence vote Hungary PM wins confidence vote
(about 5 hours later)
The Hungarian parliament is due to hold its first full debate on the events of the past three weeks in Budapest followed by a vote of confidence. Hungarian Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany has won a confidence vote in parliament amid a continuing row over his admission that he lied to voters.
Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany, backed by his Socialist and Liberal majority, looks set to win the vote comfortably. Earlier on Friday he apologised again for lying about the state of the economy to win the election last April.
A crisis erupted three weeks ago when a speech he made to his deputies at a closed meeting in May was leaked. The ruling Socialist Party and their Free Democrat allies have 210 MPs in the 386-seat parliament.
In it he said his four years in power had achieved nothing, and that he and his cabinet had lied to get re-elected. Mr Gyurcsany vowed to stick to his austerity programme, saying he would not bow to opposition "blackmail".
Hungary's President Laszlo Solyom has made an appeal to governing party deputies to replace Mr Gyurcsany. The opposition called street protests to coincide with the vote.
The opposition has called for a mass rally in the square outside parliament to press for Mr Gyurcsany to resign. We avoided facing up to reality, we lacked courage and we tried to bypass the most honest, simplest answers Ferenc Gyurcsany
Dodging reality
The prime minister began a day of debate in parliament by expressing what amounted to a mea culpa, says the BBC's Nick Thorpe in Budapest.
Mr Gyurcsany apologised for not facing up to economic realities at the general election.
He and his government campaigned on tax cuts but promptly put taxes up after being voted in, in an effort to reduce a budget deficit that had ballooned to 10% - the biggest in the EU.
"We avoided facing up to reality, we lacked courage and we tried to bypass the most honest, simplest answers. If an apology is needed for anything, then it is for this. I apologise," the prime minister said.
But then he went on the offensive, sharply rebuking the main conservative opposition party, Fidesz, and its leader, Viktor Orban, for what he called threats and blackmail, and attempting to demolish the government's economic programme.
'Wake-up' call
Mr Orban said on Thursday he would use all legitimate democratic means to oust the prime minister.
Orban says protests will go on until Gyurcsany is oustedOrban says protests will go on until Gyurcsany is ousted
The prime minister will begin the day of debate in parliament with a 40-minute speech, in which he is expected to defend his government's austerity programme and refer to his own conduct. Mr Orban called on protesters to gather in Budapest on Friday, with alarm clocks to "wake up" the coalition, as well as the national flag and candles.
After his speech, a tough debate is expected. Farmers were also reported to have blocked roads in parts of the countryside in protest at the government's agricultural policies.
The main opposition conservative party Fidesz originally planned to boycott the session because their suggestion that an alternative candidate for prime minister be proposed by the governing parties was not heeded. "The Socialists... have entrapped the country and want to sacrifice the country for a lying politician," Mr Orban said. "All constitutional, democratic and parliamentary means must be used to oust Ferenc Gyurcsany."
They were persuaded to attend by the president's appeal.
Farmers are also planning to partially block roads across Hungary in protest against the government's agricultural policies.