Socialist Party caucus leader Ildikó Lendvai was persuaded at a meeting of the party’s executive committee and county chapter leaders yesterday to run for the soon to be vacant post of party chair at Sunday’s convention.
Incumbent chairman Ferenc Gyurcsány announced that he was resigning the party post on Saturday.
According to some reports Péter Kiss and Imre Szekeres reportedly stepped aside for Lendvai at the meeting. Népszabadság names Lendvai, Kiss and deputy chairman Imre Szekeres as the main contenders, however.
Népszava meanwhile surmises that Kiss recommended Lendvai for the top party post. If elected, she could remain caucus leader, the newspaper adds.
The website index reported that the Socialist Party executive committee members’ mobile phone logs may be requested, after information was continually leaked from a private meeting on Saturday. All executive committee members sign a written authorisation for their phone logs to be accessible, ATV said.
Gyurcsány confirmed at Tuesday’s meeting that he intends to quit as party chairman, and did not lay claim to any other posts, although he would like to play a key role in the party-affiliated Táncsics Foundation. The body, which operates from an annual budget subsidy of Ft 500 million, is currently run by Mónika Lamperth, who was recently elected deputy chairwoman.
The foundation is seen as the party coffers, right-wing daily Magyar Hírlap observes.
Gyurcsány reportedly accused deputy chairman Szekeres of plotting and conspiring against him at the meeting, and called him “weak in human qualities”. Szekeres rejected the remarks, adding that he considers Gyurcsány a man of “good quality,” but asked him to change his tone.
