HUNGARY'S RIGHT HAMMERED ON THE RULING SOCIALISTS' LINKS TO COMMUNISM AS THE OPPOSITION STRUGGLED ON SUNDAY TO REVERSE POLL LOSSES A WEEK BEFORE ELECTIONS, REUTERS REPORTED. FIDESZ, THE MAIN OPPOSITION PARTY WHICH HELD POWER IN 1998-2002, HAS SEEN A 10-PERCENTAGE-POINT POLL LEAD EVAPORATE AHEAD OF HUNGARY'S FIFTH ELECTION SINCE THE END OF COMMUNISM IN 1989 AND THE FIRST SINCE IT JOINED THE EUROPEAN UNION. 'THEY ARE COMING, THOSE (SOCIALISTS) ARE COMING WHO INDEBTED AND BANKRUPTED THE COUNTRY ... WHO SERVED FOREIGN POWERS AGAINST HUNGARIANS, WHO DID NOT WANT TO HEAR ABOUT FREE ELECTIONS AND DEMOCRACY,' FIDESZ LEADER VIKTOR ORBAN TOLD A RALLY BESIDE BUDAPEST'S PARLIAMENT. HUNGARY ONCE LED ECONOMIC REFORM IN EAST EUROPE BUT MAY NOW FACE A FINANCIAL CRISIS AND THE LOSS OF EU AID AFTER FOUR YEARS OF HIGH SPENDING BY THE SOCIALISTS CREATED THE BIGGEST BUDGET DEFICIT IN THE EU RELATIVE TO THE SIZE OF THE ECONOMY. THE HUNGARIAN SOCIALIST PARTY GREW OUT OF THE COMMUNIST-ERA HUNGARIAN SOCIALIST WORKERS PARTY. HUNGARY'S EIGHT MILLION VOTERS WILL CHOOSE, IN TWO ROUNDS ON APRIL 9 AND 23, BETWEEN THE SOCIALIST-LED GOVERNMENT, WHICH WELCOMES FOREIGN INVESTMENT, AND FIDESZ, WHICH SAYS HUNGARIANS NEED TO BE PROTECTED FROM WHAT IT CALLS 'WILD CAPITALISM'.
