Press chief dismisses speculation about PM’s role in presidential election

Budapest, May 18 (MTI) – Parliament has an exclusive power in the process of electing the country’s president, Bertalan Havasi, the prime minister’s press chief told MTI on Wednesday.

Havasi spoke in the wake of footage released by commercial Hir TV, in which a co-ruling Christian Democrat deputy said it was “impossible” that President János Áder should be re-elected for a second term, because Prime Minister Viktor Orbán “would not allow that”.

Concerning the footage, Havasi said that “we are not in a position to assist with the interpretation of deputies’ opinions or their eavesdropped conversations”.

Earlier on Wednesday, radical nationalist Jobbik deputy group leader Gábor Staudt referred to the television footage as a “rare honest moment” and said it was regrettable that it was up to one single person to decide who would be Hungary’s president.

Source: http://mtva.hu/hu/hungary-matters