Hungary crisis deepens as Prime Minister quits

Moving to end a political crisis with its government coalition partner, Hungary’s Socialist Party has announced that Prime Minister Medgyessy is no longer head of the government and that it plans to nominate his replacement next week.

The Socialists said yesterday that they had accepted Medgyessy’s offer to resign, apparently seizing upon his threat earlier in the day to step down unless the junior coalition partners – the Free Democrats – reaffirmed their confidence in him.