- Title: Hungary PM hails "outstanding" referendum result
- Date: 2nd October 2016
- Summary: BUDAPEST, HUNGARY (OCTOBER 2, 2016) (REUTERS) HUNGARIAN PRIME MINISTER, VIKTOR ORBAN, WALKING INTO HALL SUPPORTERS CLAPPING ORBAN SPEAKING (SOUNDBITE) (Hungarian) HUNGARIAN PRIME MINISTER, VIKTOR ORBAN, SAYING: "We have achieved an outstanding result because we did better than the result of the referendum about joining the EU." ORBAN SPEAKING (SOUNDBITE) (Hungarian) HUNGARIAN PRIME MINISTER, VIKTOR ORBAN, SAYING: "First of all, we have to dress the decision of the people into a legal cloth, therefore in the coming days I will submit a proposal to change the constitution to the parliament." ORBAN SPEAKING (SOUNDBITE) (Hungarian) HUNGARIAN PRIME MINISTER, VIKTOR ORBAN, SAYING: "Brussels will have to make an important decision, now it is their turn to make an important decision. The EU is a democratic community. Today in one of the member states, 92% those taking part in the referendum have stated that they did not agree with the intention of Brussels." JOURNALISTS ORBAN SMILING JOURNALISTS
- Embargoed: 17th October 2016 21:28
- Keywords: referendum vote EU migrants immigration asylum
- Location: BUDAPEST, HUNGARY
- City: BUDAPEST, HUNGARY
- Country: Hungary
- Topics: European Union,Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA00152BBCQV
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Almost all Hungarians who voted in Sunday's (October 2) 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.
Hungary's maverick right-wing leader, whose hardline policy on migration has been criticised by human rights groups but is popular at home, nevertheless said EU policymakers should heed the "outstanding" referendum outcome.
Orban said more Hungarians had rejected the migrant quotas than had voted for European Union membership in a referendum ahead of Hungary's 2004 accession to the bloc. Some 3.249 million votes were cast rejecting the quotas, compared with 2003's 3.056 million votes in favour of joining the EU.
"We have achieved an outstanding result because we did better than the result of the referendum about joining the EU," he said.
"First of all, we have to dress the decision of the people into a legal cloth, therefore in the coming days I will submit a proposal to change the constitution to the parliament," he added.
The National Election Office said on its website that 98.3 percent of those who voted had rejected the quotas with 99.97 percent of votes counted. Just 40 percent of around 8.26 million eligible people had cast a valid vote, however, less than the 50 percent needed to legitimise the result. Final results are expected next week.
"Brussels will have to make an important decision, now it is their turn to make an important decision. The EU is a democratic community. Today in one of the member states, 92% those taking part in the referendum have stated that they did not agree with the intention of Brussels," Orban added.
Along with other ex-Communist countries in Eastern Europe, Hungary opposes a policy that would require all EU countries to take in some of the hundreds of thousands of people seeking asylum in the bloc after arriving last year.
Orban, who responded to the influx by sealing Hungary's southern borders with a razor-wire fence and thousands of army and police, says deciding whether to accept migrants is a matter of national sovereignty. He says Hungary -- with its Christian roots -- does not want to take in Muslims in large numbers as they pose a security risk.
In power since 2010 and with his Fidesz party still firmly ahead in opinion polls, Orban will use the referendum to keep the issue of migration on the political agenda in the run-up to 2018 elections. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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