Hungary to withdraw Budapest's 2024 Olympic bid - government

A leader of political movement Momentum Andras Fekete-Gyor holds one of the boxes consisting over 266,000 signatures from Budapest voters who want a referendum on Budapest's bid to host the 2024 Summer Olympics in Budapest, Hungary February 17, 2017. REUTERS/Laszlo Balogh

BUDAPEST (Reuters) - Hungary's government announced on Wednesday it would withdraw Budapest's bid to host the 2024 Olympic Games, citing a lack of political and national unity behind the application that it blamed on the opposition.

Bidding alongside powerhouses Los Angeles and Paris, Budapest had been considered a long-shot candidate, pinning its hopes on the International Olympic Committee's (IOC) Agenda 2020 initiative.