Sólyom, a founding member of junior opposition party MDF and the first president of the Constitutional Court, was nominated by opposition party Fidesz-MPSZ based on a sympathy vote conducted through the Internet.

Senior coalition force Hungarian Socialist Party (MSZP) was surprised by the defeat of its candidate, House Chair Katalin Szili. Szili was not supported by junior coalition force SZDSZ due to her strong MSZP-related career, and SZDSZ MPs abstained from the vote leaving MSZP alone against the opposition parties.
While both SZDSZ chairman Gábor Kuncze and MSZP president István Hiller stressed that the coalition will be preserved, an anti-SZDSZ sentiment has gathered force among MSZP members and the party’s governing committee announced an extraordinary congress for Saturday.

Hiller said the congress is scheduled to analyze the developments of the past few days, evaluate possibilities for the government’s work until the next elections in 2006 and prepare for the election campaign. Hiller admitted that MSZP members have bitter feelings about the defeat and concerning SZDSZ’s action, but said he does not plan to resign from his post.