RADIO FREE EUROPE/RADIO LIBERTY, PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC
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RFE/RL NEWSLINE  2 November 1999

LEBED FOE NABBED IN HUNGARY. Hungarian police arrested
Krasnoyarsk Aluminum company head and would-be Duma deputy
Anatolii Bykov and are ready to turn him over to Russian law
enforcement officials pending an official request for
extradition, police spokesman Colonel Laszlo Garamvolgyi told
Hungarian media on 1 November. To avoid arrest, Bykov has
lived in no fewer than five cities outside Russia in the last
several months, according to "Vremya MN" on 2 November.
Bykov, who is wanted on suspicion of money laundering among
other things, has experienced a number of difficulties in his
bid to win a seat in the State Duma. First, the Central
Election Commission barred the Liberal Democratic Party of
Russia, on whose list he was included, from participating in
the elections. Then, a local election commission in
Krasnoyarsk insisted that Bykov, a rival of Krasnoyarsk
Governor Aleksandr Lebed, must register in person (see
"RFE/RL Russian Federation Report," 27 October 1999). MS/JAC
A daily report of developments in Eastern and Southeastern
Europe, Russia, the Caucasus and Central Asia prepared by the
staff of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

HUNGARIAN CABINET WANTS TO AMEND ELECTORAL LAW. On returning
from Canada, Prime Minister Viktor Orban told journalists in
Budapest on 1 November that the cabinet intends to amend the
electoral law so that Hungarian nationals living abroad can
participate in elections. Orban noted that voters must be
citizens and thus ethnic Hungarians living in neighboring
countries who do not have Hungarian citizenship will not be
able to vote. The governing coalition and the extreme-right
Hungarian Justice and Life Party support Orban's proposal,
while opposition parties have rejected it. Without the
latter's support, the electoral law cannot be changed, since
a two-thirds majority in the parliament is required for such
amendments. MSZ

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