World Notes HUNGARY

Hungarians waited 45 years for the free elections they finally enjoyed last week. Then they had to wait another 48 hours for the results to be funneled through an archaic telephone network and a malfunctioning computer system. When the bulk of the 7.5 million ballots were finally counted, the Hungarian Socialist Party, formerly the Communists, had won less than 11% of the vote, only enough to give it a peripheral role in the nation's future.

The allocation of 386 parliamentary seats will be determined after runoff elections scheduled for April 8. But the first-round results made clear the country's overwhelming preference for two center-right parties, the Hungarian Democratic Forum (25% of the vote) and the Alliance of Free Democrats (21%). Since neither of the front runners is likely to win an outright majority in the next round, talks to stitch together a governing coalition with the Independent Smallholders' Party and other parties quickly got under way.