Hungary's parliament today voted against a government proposal to extend the mission of its 300-strong military contingent in Iraq, obliging Budapest to withdraw its forces by the end of 2004.
Parliament voted by 191 to 159 to support an extension to the end of March, but the motion required a two-thirds majority to pass.
The opposition centre-right parties voted against the proposal.
Before the vote, Defence Minister Ferenc Juhasz said failure of the motion would damage Hungary's relations with countries which keep forces in Iraq, where authorities are struggling to dampen insurgency ahead of polls.
"If we don't vote for this... it will have foreign policy consequences for several years to come," he told Parliament.
The opposition said the troops could not fulfil their mission. "At one point in time (this year) it became clear that we could not accomplish our objective... we cannot build democracy in Iraq," opposition leader Viktor Orban told news television channel HirTV.
"The current situation will not change ...so we should... think about when we should come home. I would say the sooner the better," Orban added.
Legislators rejected a last-second plea from Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany who said that returning from Iraq before elections was irresponsible and would mean Hungary had abandoned its mission just steps away from the finish line.
However, Gyurcsany has also acknowledged that paying for the mission and convincing an increasingly sceptical public of the need for a military presence were extremely difficult.
Public opinion pollster Median said on Monday that 54 percent of Hungarians would support bringing home troops this year while 19 percent said they should stay until after the Iraqi election. Only 18 percent said they should stay as long as they are needed.