Hungarians vote in a referendum which Prime Minister Viktor Orban hopes will give his government the popular support it seeks to oppose any future plans by the European Union to resettle asylum seekers among its member states.
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Turnout was 44 percent, with only 40 percent casting a valid vote.
By staying away from the referendum, majority of the Hungarians “voted against this attempt”, the German Social-democrat politician said, adding that “we are grateful for this”. Hungary is due to accept 1,300 people from this number but it has taken none so far, with the issue of migrants turning this year into the most debated and contradictory political topic in the country.
“What we can do is that we do not let European Union decisions made after the referendum and the constitutional amendment take effect in Hungary”, he said.
Nearly all Hungarians who voted in Sunday’s referendum rejected the European Union’s migrant quotas but turnout was too low to make the poll valid, frustrating Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s hopes of a clear victory with which to challenge Brussels. “You will not be taken seriously by Brussels bureaucrats”, Vona said in parliament on Monday.
Almost 400,000 migrants passed through Hungary a year ago toward Western Europe.
With a weak opposition in parliament and practically limitless campaign spending to promote the government position, the referendum’s lack of validity was considered distressing for the government.
“It was a very dirty campaign”, said Csaba Dudas, an organizer for the Two-Tailed Dog Party, which countered the government campaign with humorous billboards and signs urging people to cast invalid votes.
If a majority of voters agree, Hungary’s parliament would pass legislation to advance the referendum’s goal whether or not turnout was sufficient for a valid election, he said. “And we have to state clearly that we ban the forced resettlement of migrants”.
The vote was declared invalid because of low turnout, but Orban nonetheless hailed the outcome as “a sweeping victory” in his revolt against Brussels and vowed to change the constitution to “reflect the will of the people”.
Mr Orban has made opposition to immigration his key policy, and he is estimated to have spent hundreds of millions of euro on frontier fences to block migrants, massive border security and a lurid No campaign in the media.
It marks the third referendum by member countries on European Union policies in two years, but as Euronews correspondent Sandor Zsiros, notes MEPS did not want to discuss the latest results, voting down a proposal to put it on this week’s parliamentary agenda. That did not work as nearly all the opposition parties, widely supported by numerous human rights groups, called for boycotting the vote or at least spoiling the ballots.
The EU, faced with its worst refugee crisis since World War II, has already come under fire for a deal with Turkey to take back Syrian asylum seekers from Greece in return for billions of euros in aid.
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More than 400,000 refugees trekked through Hungary toward northern Europe in 2015 before Hungary sealed off its southern borders with razor wire in the autumn and brought in tough anti-migrant laws, reducing the flow to a trickle.
