RADIO FREE EUROPE/RADIO LIBERTY, PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC
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RFE/RL NEWSLINE  30 June 1999

HUNGARIAN TV BOARD RULED CONSTITUTIONAL. The
Constitutional Court on 29 June voted by six to five
that the the board of trustees of Hungarian Television
as set up the government is constitutional. In its
verdict, the court said that a "truncated board" is less
threatening to freedom of information than the absence
of such a board would be. The opposition, which appealed
to the court, refused to nominate candidates to the
board because one of the government representatives is a
extra-parliamentary party member. The court said that
the imbalance among the board members is due to the
failure of the opposition groups to make use of their
right to field candidates. Szilard Vasvari,
parliamentary member of the major coalition party,
FIDESZ, said the decision is a "total victory" for the
ruling coalition. MSZ/MS

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