"To stay there until the elections are held is our duty," Gyurcsany said, referring to elections set for January in Iraq.

"To stay there much longer is impossible. That is why by March 31, 2005, we are withdrawing our troops from Iraq.

"From that point others, in other ways and first of all with the tools of politics must guarantee stability and security to democratic life in Iraq," Gyurcsany added.

Hungarian officials had earlier said they would put off the sensitive decision on whether to stay in Iraq beyond the mandate of its current mission -- which expires on December 31 -- until after the US presidential race was over.

President George W. Bush won Tuesday's White House race, with his Democratic opponent John Kerry conceding defeat Wednesday.

"A country that during the (US presidential) campaign says anything for or against with respect to Iraq inevitably gives ammunition for the two candidates to quarrel," Defence Minister Ferenc Juhasz told AFP last week in Budapest.

"We want to avoid becoming an internal political question in the United States when this is our sovereign decision," he said.

The Iraqi mission has been an unpopular one in Hungary, where opinion polls have showed a majority of the population opposed to the deployment.

In recent months the conservative opposition in parliament has also become increasingly vocal in its opposition, urging the withdrawal of Hungarian troops.

Gyurcsany's Socialist-Liberal coalition government would have needed the support of the opposition parties to have a two-thirds parliamentary majority to extend the mandate of the troops beyond December 31.

"If we decide to stay we would create serious domestic political conflict since most people would disagree," Juhasz said.

Nonetheless, a defence ministry official told AFP on Wednesday it would seek an extension of the Hungarian mission in Iraq at least until March 31 in order to help with preparations for the Iraqi elections.

"We will ask parliament on Monday to extend the mandate of our troops in Iraq until March 31," ministry spokesman Peter Matyuc said.

Hungary is one of 30 countries that contributed troops to the US-led force in Iraq in March 2003. Several allies have since withdrawn, including the Dominican Republic, Honduras, Nicaragua, the Philippines and Spain.

The Hungarian soldiers are based at Hilla, 100 kilometers (62 miles) south of Baghdad under Polish command and has so far suffered one fatality when a soldier was killed by a bomb south of Baghdad in June.

Warsaw is due to begin scaling down its troops in Iraq in January.

Juhasz has said that if Hungary, a member of NATO, opted for withdrawal it would look for other military missions abroad to which it could contribute the troops currently serving in Iraq.

The country currently has 1,000 troops taking part in international peace-keeping missions, including Afghanistan.

Hungary on Wednesday abandoned its military draft system after 136 years and Gyuarscany made the Iraq announcement at a ceremony where the country's last conscripts marked the end of their military service.

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