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| 98% of Hungarians reject refugee quotas, but low turnout to rule referendum invalid - early results | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| A Hungarian referendum on EU asylum quotas is likely to be declared invalid, after turnout failed to clear the mandatory 50 percent threshold, according to the ruling party. However, exit polls showed that then overwhelming majority voted against the quotas. | A Hungarian referendum on EU asylum quotas is likely to be declared invalid, after turnout failed to clear the mandatory 50 percent threshold, according to the ruling party. However, exit polls showed that then overwhelming majority voted against the quotas. |
| The referendum was proposed by PM Viktor Orban, but opposition parties told voters to stay away. | The referendum was proposed by PM Viktor Orban, but opposition parties told voters to stay away. |
| An opinion poll conducted by think-tank Nezopont Sunday showed that of those who did vote 95 percent chose to reject the asylum seeker allocation quotas agreed by the EU last year, despite protests from Hungary and three other European states. | An opinion poll conducted by think-tank Nezopont Sunday showed that of those who did vote 95 percent chose to reject the asylum seeker allocation quotas agreed by the EU last year, despite protests from Hungary and three other European states. |
| The referendum was non-binding, but became a symbolic litmus test for Orban’s anti-migrant and anti-Islamist policies. His mostly left-wing political opponents rejected the very idea of the referendum, suggesting it would cause “tension” inside the country and in Budapest’s relationship with Brussels, and urged a boycott to prevent a validating turnout. | |
| With the electoral commission predicting that the turnout was upwards of 45 percent, both sides are now likely to claim victory. | |
| “We can rightfully say that today has brought a sweeping victory for all those who reject the forced resettlement of migrants, and for those who believe that the foundations of a strong EU can only be strong nations,” said Gergely Gulyas, vice-chairman of Orban’s Fidesz party, even as he admitted that the government’s high-profile poster and media referendum campaign failed to bring out the voters in sufficient numbers. | |
| READ MORE: Hungary set to reject Merkel’s refugee quotas in ‘existential’ referendum | |
| The former Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany, whose center-left Democratic Coalition opposed the referendum, said that Orban “has to listen to the people” and urged the politician, who has led Hungary since 2010, to resign his post. | |
| The far-right Jobbik, who had campaigned alongside Fidesz to secure a valid referendum, also called on Orban to step down. |