January 2. Mátyás Szűrös states the greatest political danger is that instability and chaos might dominate the life of the country. Therefore he believes that during the period of the general elections the local council should ensure peaceful and undisturbed circumstances.

January 3. Representatives Zoltán Király and Ernő Raffay propose that in the future the president of the country should always be elected directly by the people.

The Independent Smallholders' Party distances itself from the (Szeged-based) National Smallholders' Party, and emphasizes that there is no split in the party.

January 4. The Council of Ministers appoints István Nemeskürty chariman of the Hungarian Television. The members of the chairmanship are: Alajos Chrudinák, György Cigány, János Dömölki, János Gombár, Ádám Horváth, István Pálfy G. and Tamás Vitray.

The Council of Ministers sets up a committee to coordinate the use of the financial support promised by Western countries.

The HSP distances itself from the activities of the former leaders of HSWP and the mistaken economic policy of the Lázár government. It dissociates itself from any of the figures like Béla Biszku, Sándor Gáspár, Mihály Korom or Károly Németh. The party leadership urges to set up a ad hoc parliamentary committee to investigate the role and responsibility of the former leaders.

7 gypsy organizations demand independent parliamentary representation for themselves.

January 5. The outbreak of the "Danubegate" scandal: AFD announces that Main Division No. 3 of the ministry of the interior keeps opposition politicians under surveillance, collects data and information on the opposition parties and movements even after the new constitution have come into effect. AFD and FYD file a report with the police in the case and calls Prime Minister Miklós Németh to distance the government from the unlawful activities of the state security service, and to relieve head of departmentof the ministry of interior, József Horváth, deputy minister Ferenc Pallagi, and to initiate the resignation of minister of the interior István Horváth. Miklós Németh dissociates himself from the wire-tapping activities and calls the Supreme Prosecutor to conduct prompt investigations in the case.

The foreing committee and the national defense committee of the Parliament proposes to the House in a resolution to empower the Council of Ministers to urge the speedy withdrawal of the soviet troops stationed in Hungary, if possible, by the end of the year.

The National Council of Trade Unions protests for the the price rises coming to force this month. General secretary of the National Council of Trade Unions Sándor Nagy says the danger is greater than ever that the country will be threatened by a small economic elite.

January 7. The minister of the interior appoints a committee to investigate the "Dunagate" case and sequestrates the documents of Main Division 3 of the ministry.

Gyula Horn is the first foreign minister since 1967 to conduct negotiations in Israel.

January 8. The military Supreme Prosecution orders investigations in the Dunagate case.

Soviet deputy chief-of-staff announces that further troops will be withdrane from Hungary in 1990.

In Israel Gyula Horn says Hungary will revise its current position on Zionism.

January 9. Prime Minister Miklós Németh states at the summit meeting of Comecon in Sofia that either the organization changes fundamentally or it will cease to exist.

The presidency of the Hungarian Television relieves Endre Aczél from his double position of editor-in-chief of the daily news program and the weekly news program called The Week. The new editor-in-chief of the two most popular news programs in this period will be István Pálfy G.

January 10. The National Coordination Council of Trade Unions envisages demonstrations and strikes if no agreement can be achieved with the government on an anti-inflation economic package.

The Publicity Club believes it is unacceptable that the leader of the election campaign of HSP, state minister Imre Pozsgay supervises the media.

January 11. The ministry of the interior regulates by decree the administration of the March 26 general elections.

January 12. The cabinet of the Council of Ministers bans the use of secret means by the internal security service.

FYD and AFD repeatedly demand the resignation of minister of the interior István Horváth.

January 13. In the second round of the by-elections in electoral district 14 og Budapest Miklós Tanás Gáspár, candidate of AFD wins the seat.

Miklós Németh states Hungary and the Soviet Unions believe that there is no need for stationing soviet troops on Hungarian land, therefore they agree on a speedy withdrawal of all the units.

After 5 years of intensive negotiations a Japanese-Hungarian contract is signed in Budapest on establishing an assembly plant by the Suzuki Car Company in Hungary.

General Motors and Rába Works sign an agreement on founding a joint venture company.

January 14. The radio broadcasts István Csurka's - one of the leaders of HDF - commentary which is, in the opinion of many, not exempt from anti-Semitism.

January 16. An inter-party conciliatory committee is set up by HSP, the Opposition Roundtable and the organizations of the third party which have already constituted themselves a political party with an aim to regulate the publicity of the elections in the media.

Imre Pozsgay renounces his job to supervise the committee responsible for the supervision of the radio and the television.

January 17. József Horváth, head of the internal security service of the ministry of the interior hands in his resignation.

The minister of trade suspends all export accounted in rubels.

The Supreme Court acquits all those convicted in the Pócspetri trial in 1948.

January 18. József Végvári, major of the internal security service announces that it was he who had the documents involved in the Dunagate scandal transferred to FYD and AFD. On the same day he is suspended in his post.

Miklós Németh says he himself requested documents on parties only when he was informed about incidents threatening the peaceful transition, for instance before the funeral of Imre Nagy, or before October 23.

January 20. Two thousand people demonstrate in front of the ministry of the interior for the slow investigation of the Dunagate scandal.

The ticket offices are closed at the Déli railway station in Budapest because crowds of homeless people overran the big waiting hall.

Rupert Murdock, the British media czar buy up 50% of the shares of the newspapers Mai Nap and Reform.

January 21. The Council of Ministers dissolves main division 3, the state security office responsible for the illegal surveillance, of the ministry of the interior effective immediately, bans the use of any secret means and stops the elimination of documents.

January 23. István Horváth, minister of the interior hands in his resignation. Miklós Németh calls for restraint on the part of political parties and asks them not to instigate hysteria in the future. The Prime Minister announces that negotiations will start soon on the full withdrawal of soviet troops.

January 25. The Council of Ministers appoints present deputy minister Zoltán Gál minister of the interior.

HSP reports József Torgyán to the police because in one of his interviews he slandered the party by calling it fascist.

The court sentences Roland Antoniewicz to 1 year suspended imprisonment for disseminating arrow-cross posters.

January 26. The Parliament passes the modification of the Act on land, a law on the State Property Agency and another one on private enterprises.

January 27. Chairman Anna Petrasovics says at the meeting of the national committee of the Social Democratic Party of Hungary that the relations of the party with AFD and FYD broke off because they have different views on privatization.

January 29. 30 thousand people demonstrate at the initiation of the trade unions in front of the House of Parliament because of the worsening living conditions and the threatening unemployment.

The presidency of HDF distances itself from any anti-Semitic manifestation, but it considers unjustified to carry on the dispute in the media on the commentary made by István Csurka.

February 1. Negotiations start on the full withdrawal of soviet troops from Hungary.

February 2. The Hungarian foreign minister calls the Rumanian leadership to suppress the reviving nationalism.

February 3. Csaba Vass, member of the presidency of HSP justifies the existence of the committee supervising the national media that the political parties could not tolerate any more the autocracy of the HSWP, and then later that of AFD in the television.

February 6. The Council of Ministers and the catholic episcopacy cancel the agreement made in 1950, after the Parliament legislated a law on freedom of religion and conscience and the churches.

February 7. An agreement is reached at the National Roundtable that the Parliament will deal only with the most important laws in the rest of its term.

February 9. The diplomatic relations broken off in 1945 between Hungary and the Vatican are restored.

The liquidation of the Nógrád Coal Mines begins.

February 10. 15 thousand people demonstrate in front of the House of Parliament demanding the freezing of selling and buying land property.

Imre Pozsgay states that if HSP and the left are elbowed out of the political arena, then Hungary will not be heading towards Europe but in teh direction of the Balkans.

February 14. Károly Grósz is met by furious demonstrators in Leninváros who start pushing him as he was going to participate in a local television discussion.

February 16. The Council of Ministers makes due apology to the Hungarian nation for the violations of law between 1945 and 1963. The codification of this apology will be submitted to the Parliament.

HDF dissociates itself from those parties which hope the economic boom of the country will result from the immediate flow of foreign capital into the country and from the restoration of the ownership system of 1947.

According to FYD the only way of economic development is the coalition of HDF and AFD.

February 19. The Public Board of Audit maintains the asset and liability statement submitted by HSP in November is not suitable to reflect the real situation in September.

February 20. Gyula Horn thinks it feasible that Hungary may become member of NATO in a few years.

February 23. The Chairman of the Hungarian National Bank says there is some uncertainty in foreign financial markets in the evaluation of Hungary; moreover, it is also said that the new government intends to declare insolvency.

AFD elects János Kis chairman of the party.

February 25. The attorney general of the Independent Smallholders' Party, József Torgyán states his party will propose in the new coalition government that Hungary should quit the Warsaw treaty Organization.

February 26. The ministerial officials involved in the Dunagate case are reprimanded, among them the former minister of the interior.

February 27. The National Election Committee draws the order of the 12 parties which have a national list of candidates: HDF, Hungarian People's Party, HSWP, Independent Smallholders' party, FYD, AFD, Entrepreneurs' Party, HSP, Agrarian Alliance, Patriotic Electoral Coalition, Christian Democratic Party, Social Democratic Party of Hungary.

February 28. The Parliament approves of the asset and liability statement of HSP, though it considers it incomplete.

March 1. The Parliament decides that the president of the country should be elected by the people, and not by the newly elected Parliament.

it turns out in the second round of expert negotiations that the positions of the Soviet and the Hungarian parties differ significantly on the final date of the withdrawal of troops.

March 2. Miklós Németh says in the debate on the wire-tapping case that certain former county leaders of HSWP were preparing an armed coup d'état.

March 4. The National Assosiation of Hungarian Trade Unions elects the former general secretary of the national Council of Trade Unions its chairman.

March 5. Representatives of the 12 parties having a national list of candidates form a committee to supervise the publicity of the election campaign.

March 8. HSP announces that after the elections the party will move out of the building on Jászai Mari square and will return it to the government.

March 9. The delegations agree in Moscow that the soviet troops will start withdrawing from Hungary on March 12 in Hajmáskér. Full withdrawal will be completed by June 30.

The leaders of HSWP report Miklós Németh to the police for slander.

March 10. In Moscow Shevarnadze, soviet and Gyula Horn, Hungarian Prime Minister sign the interstate agreement on the full withdrawal of Soviet troops stationed in Hungary.

March 14. In its last, solemn session the Parliament elected in 1985 pronounces the unlawful trials between 1945 and 1963 null and void.

The report made by the ad hoc committee of the ministry of the interior is made public on the wire-tapping scandal. The report says the main aim of the security service was to explore the activities and plans of the political parties.

The board of directors of the International Monetary Fund approves of the stand-by loan of 206 million USD to be granted to Hungary, which indicates that Hungary has managed to preserve its credit standing.

It is announced that live coverage of the March 15 celebrations in the television is canceled.

March 15. In addition to nationwide memorial ceremonies HDF AFD and FYD organize a torchlit procession in the Castle area attended by tens of thousands.

March 18. According to the Publicity Club the presidency of the Hungarian television and the supervisory committee aggressively interfere with the election campaign by canceling the live coverage of the March 15 ceremonies.

March 19. The Council of Ministers pronounces April 4 a workday and October 23, the day of the proclamation of the Hungarian Republic, a national holiday.

March 20. Miklós Németh a message of protest to the Rumanian Prime Minister because the seat of the Hungarian organization in Marosvásárhely was devastated and several Hungarian were seriously assaulted, among other Writer András Süt ő. A mass demonstration is organized in Budapest on this occasion.

HSP reports József Torgyán to the police for agitation against a community.

March 21. A "Farewell to the regime party" is thrown by FYD in the Népstadion.

March 25. The day of the first free general elections since 1947. 65% of those having the right to vote participate in the elections. Voting brings a result in 5 electorates, in the other 171 a second round is needed. 152 representatives receive a mandate on the territorial party lists, another 58 on the national party lists. HDF receives 24.7% of the votes on the territorial lists, AFD has 21.3%, the Independent Smallholders' Party 11.7%, HSP 10.8%.

April 2. The Axel Springer Budapest Publishing Company manages to buy several county newspapers owned by HSWP.

April 6. The presidency of the Hungarian television resigns.

April 8. After the second round of the parliamentary elections the mandates are shared as follows: HDF 42.5%, AFD 21.3%, the Independent Smallholders' Party 11.4%, HSP 8.5%, FYD 5.7%, the Christian Democratic Party 5.4%, the Agrarian Alliance 0.5%, independent candidates 1.5%.

April 10. The committee of HDF empowers the presidency of the party to start coalition negotiations in the first place with the Independent Smallholders' Party and the Christian Democratic Party.

The German company GSB denies that it wanted to buy the Gerbaud building in Budapest at a sacrifice price. AFD has previously brought a legal action in the case.

April 13. On the basis of the agreement made by the parliamentary parties interim president Mátyás Szűrös convenes the statutory session of the House for May 2.

April 14. József Antall states that Hungary will presumably become member of the Common Market between 1992 and 1995 and it will catch up with the average level of European economic development in about 10 years. In addition he bring up the idea that the possibility of quitting the Warsaw Treaty Organization should be investigated.

April 15. The Independent Smallholders' Party is planning to return 30% of usable land to the former owners.

April 16. For many decades now this is the first time that the Hungarian Prime Minister attends the Easter mass in the Esztergom basilica.

April 17. Imre Pozsgay is elected leader of the parliamentary group of HSP.

April 18. FYD is at a loss on learning about the proposal of HDF that the future government will give important expert posts to the young democrats.

April 21. At the conference of deputies of AFD János Kis, executive chairman announces that AFD will support the government only if it can submit a workable program to overcome the crisis instead of retreating into cheap demagogy.

April 23. The spokesman of AFD says the party lays a claim to the leading posts of the most important parliamentary committees.

April 26. The parliamentary parties agree that HDF can nominate 4 candidates, AFD 2, and the rest of the parties 1 candidate each to head the permanent committees.

The foreign policy expert of HDF, Géza Jeszenszky says Hungary does not intend to repudiate its membership unilaterally in the Warsaw Treaty Organization but it will start negotiations on the issue.

April 27. Ferenc Kulin, deputy chairman of HDF says in most cases his party will not nominate its own representatives to head the ministries but rather internationally renowned experts who are not members of any party.

April 29. HDF and AFD sign an inter-party agreement.

May 1. The first details of the HDF - AFD pact are made public according to which the two parties have agreed that Árpád Göncz is elected speaker of the House and György Szabad first deputy speaker. HDF and AFD propose that both politicians should be nominated for the posts of president of the republic and speaker of the House respectively. The two parties jointly initiate that by modifying the constitution the range of laws should be narrowed which require a majority of two-thirds. According to the agreement the Parliament only elects the Prime Minister of the government, the ministers are appointed by the president of the republic at the nomination of the head of the government. The president also has the right to nominate the leaders of the Hungarian Television, the Hungarian radio and the National News Agency.

As At its statutory session the new Parliament legislates a law commemorating the 1956 revolution and fight for freedom and declares October 23 a national holiday.

May 3. Interim president of the republic Árpád Göncz commissions József Antal to form a government.