The following are excerpts from a speech given by Ferenc Gyurcsany, Hungary’s Socialist prime minister, to his party’s MPs on May 26. The speech was secretly recorded and leaked to the press on Sunday, sparking demonstrations that turned violent on Monday evening.

“I almost died when I had to pretend for one and a half years [before April’s elections] as if we were governing. Instead, we lied in the morning, we lied in the evening. I am through with this. We either do it and then you’ve got your man, or you pick someone else.”