Istvan Csurka, the right-wing anti-Semitic politician who was kicked out of the ruling Hungarian Democratic Forum, announced this week that he has founded his own political party.
Csurka said his new Hungarian Justice Party will hold its first congress early this month.
Political observers expressed concern that Csurka’s popularity would gain as a result of the new developments and that his party would grow into a powerful new force within Hungarian politics.
Csurka’s announcement of the new party came Monday, one day before the Democratic Forum’s Ethics Committee formally decided to expel Csurka from the party.
The decision appeared to bring to an end a prolonged power struggle within the Democratic Forum between rightist forces and the centrist line of Jozsef Antall, party president and prime minister.
Early in June, the party had expelled Csurka and four of his followers from the Democratic Forum’s parliamentary faction.
Csurka, whose anti-Semitic accusations in radio broadcasts and in print have infuriated the Jewish community here and elsewhere, has blamed the nation’s woes on liberals, Jews, Western financiers and the media.
However, recent disclosures about Csurka’s past may dampen his popularity. Political rivals have accused Csurka of working for the Communist secret police in the 1950s, a charge Csurka had flatly denied until this week.
In a lengthy newspaper article written by Csurka, he acknowledged that he agreed to work as an agent of the Communist secret police in 1957, but insisted he never actually spied on anyone.
“I’m terribly ashamed of this whole thing, but I’ve never reported on anyone,” Csurka wrote.
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