Voters were asked: “Do you want the European Union to be able to mandate the obligatory resettlement of non-Hungarian citizens into Hungary even without the approval of the National Assembly?”
The bad news is that the turnout in today’s referendum reportedly failed to reach the 50% level required for the vote to be legally binding.
The good news is that 98% of those who voted rejected the EU migrant quotas.
I don’t have a figure for the estimated turnout, but we know it was over 40%. Obviously, not everyone who stayed home was in favor of the quotas — more likely the opposite. Therefore we can say with a fair degree of confidence that a huge majority of Hungarians are opposed to letting the EU dictate migration policy to Budapest. I call this a victory for Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.
Here’s the report from the BBC:
Hungary Referendum Rejects EU Mandatory Migrant Plan
Hungarians who voted in a referendum on Sunday have overwhelmingly rejected mandatory EU migrant quotas, the national election office has said.
But exit polls suggest that turnout failed to reach the 50% needed for the result to be valid.
With nearly all the votes counted, 98% rejected the quotas, officials said.
Right-wing Prime Minister Viktor Orban urged Hungarians to reject the EU scheme, describing it as a threat to Europe’s security and way of life.
He described the result as “overwhelming” and said the EU “cannot force” Hungary to accept migrants. He urged EU decision makers to take note of the referendum.
The EU plan to relocate 160,000 migrants across the bloc would mean Hungary receiving 1,294 asylum seekers.
The vote equates to a loss against the EU, and I’m afraid the same will happen here in the US presidential election.
Actually not. It is a victory, but could have been better…
Yes it is.
Critics of Hungary use a double standard here.
Poll at the last European voting – 42 %
The current Austrian Government (SPÖ, ÖVP) represents only 38% of voters.
Or take Slovenia – they joined the EU with a distinct lower then 50 % poll (before the vote for joining the EU they changed the law so that a quorum of over 50% was no longer obligatory).
If you dont vote, then you either dont care, or you willing to accept the outcome.
It`s as simple as that.
It`s like the media hype around the ominous young Brexit-opponents.
But many of those young people didn`t even participated.
It failed to pass. I’m afraid the US won’t get enough voters out to elect Trump either.
Hillary’s rallies continue to be wastelands of empty space. Mainstream media coverage for Hillary’s negatives has been described with the same terms her rally attendance has by the few who have witnessed them: crickets and tumbleweeds.
Trump’s rallies have tens of thousands of energized voters overflowing venue capacities by many thousands of people left outside for each rally at multiple locations in a single day even, but the same at every rally.
The Left and political elites everywhere want their global sandbox to play in by molding the lives of the little people to suit their entertainment and whimsical constructs. They will do anything to get their way including dramatic tantrums of destructive temperament while accusing others of the same most outrageous behavior they routinely exhibit in coercing the acquiescence of the public’s service to their fanciful notions.
They can’t get it honestly so they utilize the ongoing mainstream media to lie for them louder, bigger, often and traitorously to their endowed purpose in order to create the hallucinatory false imagery of opinion in their audience.
To back this up, they resort to their usual criminality:
http://www.armstrongeconomics.com/international-news/north_america/2016-u-s-presidential-election/worker-discovers-warehouse-in-ohio-loaded-with-ballots-for-hillary-already-filled-out/
Too many people, like in America, don’t really see how important their vote is. Hopefully people will wake up and when there is a revote more voters will get involved. I am sure if they tried such a vote here in the US the traitor left would challenge this in court as unconstitutional.
Someone on twitter reports a turnout of 43.91%. And 99.32% against. Which is rather amazing. Too bad folks in Budapest could not be bothered to show up. (Lowest turnout of all the districts, last I looked.)
Most Leftists Liberals live in Budapest.
– Still disappointed. Isn’t there a clause in the constitution that would have bound the government to the result of the referendum had the turnout been at least 50 %?
– Do not understand the apathy. Did people not see what happened last year when the migrants were marching through Hungary?
Some data about the voting:
13 years ago Hungary voted to become member of EU. On that referendum they were less people than on this one (and they not finished counting!)
in the last EU Parliament election the 15% less voter participated than this one.
Orban Viktor suggested to change the basic law (constitution) to include this. This will provide an iron hard protection not for this government but for any future governments too.
The 50% limit was to make this changes compulsory to the Hungarian government but because the referendum was introduced by the government there is no need to have compulsory power.
I would say this is a VICTORY!
Orban should still shut down the border and start deportations.
Surely it’s standard EU Commission practice to demand a revote on any vote that goes against it’s plans?.
Odd, I haven’t heard the drunk demanding this this time.?
Wonder why?
Junkers was probably drunk at the time.
Let me get this right, there was a low turnout, but those who did, voted 98% “no?”
Doesn’t seem right to me. Did anyone check up on the official who said they didn’t get a big enough turnout? Could he be in the pay of the E.U.?
Orban had already stated he would enforce the results of the referendum, regardless of the percentage of voters. The 50% participation level was only necessary to enshrine it as part of the Hungarian Constitution (which would have affected future governments). Hungary will still hold strong against the EU diktats.
The 50% is the compulsory level. It would have made the government mandatory accept the result, this is for cases when the government is against a referendum and then still being forced to follow the will of the people. In this case this is not required as the government was the one asked for the referendum and the decision given them authorization to modify the constitution (basic law).
Those opposing the referendum had no reason to bother voting at all and there was quite likely a quiet campaign encouraging them not to. The polling preceding the vote indicated that the referendum was supported by a substantial portion of the populace and those opposing it knew they were going to lose, thus, by not adding their numbers to the vote they would increase the likelihood of it not reaching the binding threshold.
If the vote had been binding regardless, then I bet the turnout from those opposing the referendum would have made the effort to vote. The 50% threshold requirement is silly: not voting is a decision and if people refuse to exercise this right and then bemoan the outcome of a particular vote — tough!
Binding or not, the stunningly high percentage of those who did vote opposing the EU’s interference into Hungary’s self-determination exerts political pressure on the Hungarian government to act in accordance with this vote. This is a victory.
Yes this is absolutely a victory. The compulsory limit (50%) designed when a government has a different agenda from the people’s decision. (Like in Germany, Netherlands, Sweden, France, Italy, Austria etc…)
so it would have forced them to act according to the decision.
This was never the case here, the government asked for confirmation (essentially a confidence vote) in existing government stance and policies.
They got it. They will not b[oun]d but they will add the result to the Basic Law.
98%? You can’t get 98% of people to agree that the sky is blue. It is one of the signs that a vote has been tampered with is when the number is an absurd one like this; I believe Saddam Hussein claimed to have won 98% of the vote when he held ‘elections’. Look, I’m just as skeptical of the benefits of the mass resettlements of peoples as the next person, but this is utterly implausible.
The final figure was more like 92%. Still somewhat implausible, but not as extreme.
Maybe some of our Hungarian readers can offer their opinions as to how accurate this number is likely to be.
I am not one of your Hungarian readers, but I am an American of Hungarian descent and I can tell you Hungarians have long memories. They still remember Attila the Hun, the Communists, all the other people who have held them at time hapless. Right now, with Orban as a leader, Hungary is blooming in a resurgence of pride and ability. Hungarian s are smart and if you read your history you will most likely agree.
And just to show that I’m not partisan, “GO Orban!” heh.