in the end, the implicit deal on the presidency (the only place where the communists appeared to have gotten the upper hand) reached in the round table talks was reversed: when the mszmp dissolved itself in early october and became the hungarian socialist party (mszp), a majority of members as well as mps failed to join the new party, and pozsgay was not elected its leader. in the ensuing power vacuum, the radicals used the very liberal initiative law formulated by the round table to successfully campaign for a referendum on four additional issues. the referendum, held on 26 november, asked questions on the dissolution of the party militia, the return of party assets, the elimination of the party from the workplace and whether presidential or parliamentary elections should be held first. they easily obtained the 100,000 signatures needed to place the questions on the ballot. the reform communists quickly abolished the party militia, promised a full accounting of its assets before the referendum, and removed its cells from the workplace. on the crucial question of the election sequence, the radicals barely satisfied both criteria (55% turnout, with 50% needed, and 50.07% supporting parliamentary elections first). the party-state had been completely dismantled, something the opposition round table had not been strong enough to accomplish on its own. the communists themselves used the initiative to force a vote on direct election of the president on 29 july 1990, but this failed due to a turnout of just 14%. instead of a communist candidate chosen in direct elections before the election of a new parliament, the presidency went to szdsz politician árpád göncz, elected by the new parliament.