June 3rd, 2008

Opposition leaders miss vote on Tibet

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Fidesz chairman Viktor Orbán, deputy Speaker János Áder and former economy minister György Matolcsy arrived too late for a parliamentary vote on Tibet Monday, allowing the Socialists to defeat the motion by just two votes.

Caucus director Tibor Navracsics later fined each of them Ft 50,000. Caucus director Róbert Répássy said there is no exception to the rule.

The Socialists – helped by Local Governments Minister István Gyenesei, an independent MP – managed to defeat the opposition motion to put a draft resolution on Tibet on the House agenda by 178 votes to 176.

Orbán admitted that he was to blame for Matolcsy’s tardiness, and said he would pay Matolcsy’s fine.

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2 Comments

  1. Matt says:
    June 3, 2008 at 9:51 pm

    Do we really need 386 people to sit in the Parliament, do nothing useful and collect large salaries?
    Let half of them go, and tell the rest to worry about Hungary not China. Dammit.

  2. Erik says:
    June 4, 2008 at 10:36 am

    Well said – I’d say Parliament’s term should be like that of the Texas legislature, which (I believe) meets for a few months every other year.