Low turnout invalidates Hungary’s referendum
Print Edition
LOW voter turnout invalidated Hungary’s referendum on European Union refugee quotas as Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s government seeks opposition to any future EU plans to relocate asylum seekers.
Orban, who did not mention that the referendum was invalid, said yesterday he would present a proposal to amend the constitution reflecting people’s intentions. Orban has argued that allowing larger numbers of Muslim migrants into Europe threatens Hungary and Europe’s Christian identity and culture.
“The (European) Union’s proposal is to let the migrants in and distribute them in mandatory fashion among the member states and for Brussels to decide about this distribution,” Orban said. “Hungarians decided that only us Hungarians can decide whom we want to live with.”
More than 3.25 million voters — 98.3 percent of those who cast valid ballots — backed the government. But turnout was 43.9 percent, the National Election Office said. At least 50 percent plus one of Hungary’s 8.27 million voters needed to cast valid ballots for the referendum to be valid.
The referendum asked: “Do you want the European Union to be able to prescribe the mandatory settlement of non-Hungarian citizens in Hungary even without the consent of Parliament?”
Separately, the Orban government is suing at the European Court of Justice because of the EU’s 2015 decision to relocate 160,000 asylum seekers from Greece and Italy. Under the original plan, 1,294 asylum seekers would be moved to Hungary.
Nearly 400,000 migrants passed through Hungary last year toward Western Europe.
Razor-wire fences on the border with Serbia and Croatia, along with new expulsion policies, reduced the numbers significantly this year.
Last year, Hungary rejected over 80 percent of asylum claims made in the country.
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