It's not that they voted Yes, on the contrary. Even 98% of Hungarian voters who went to vote in the referendum on migrants on Sunday expressed themselves against the distribution quotas decided by the EU. The problem for the Budapest government is that they have not reached the quorum: the turnout stopped at 43,23%, well below the 50% required by the Hungarian Constitution to validate the outcome of the consultation.
The conservative national premier Viktor Orbàn, therefore, missed a priority target for him for the first time. And yet, the head of the Hungarian government seems to want to continue on his intransigent path: “The results of the referendum – said Orbàn – must be taken into consideration. The European Union will not be able to impose its will on Hungary”.
In short, for Orbàn the political signal sent by those who went to vote counts more than the invalidity of the referendum itself.
The consultation, we recall, asked this question: "Do you or not want the EU to impose quotas on the distribution of migrants on each of its member countries, without consulting the national government and parliament and Magyar sovereigns?". According to every authoritative poll, 8 out of 10 Hungarians do not want illegal immigrants.
At this point the oppositions ask the premier to resign: "After a defeat like this in a normal and democratic country, the premier must resign," said the former social democratic premier, Ferenc Gyurcsany.
