WORLD IN BRIEF : HUNGARY : Referendum OKd on Presidential Post

Hungary’s Parliament voted to hold a national referendum on when and how to elect someone to fill the new post of president. The lawmakers voted to hold the referendum Nov. 26, the date that had tentatively been chosen for a popular vote to select a president under an agreement signed by the ruling Socialist Party and most of the major opposition groups. Two opposition groups had opposed that agreement, however, and collected more than 200,000 signatures calling for a referendum on the method and timing of such elections. The groups want the president chosen by Parliament after the general elections, which are to be held by next June. If Hungarians vote in favor of electing a president before the parliamentary elections, the presidential balloting would be conducted Jan. 7.