2004. december. 06. 11:11 hvg.hu Utolsó frissítés: 2004. december. 08. 12:02 English version

Voters Shy Away From Referendum

With 98% of votes counted, Hungary’s referendum on double citizenship and stopping privatization of the healthcare sector did not produce enough votes to decide either of the two questions.

For deciding a referendum question, at least 25% of the total voting population should say ‘yes’ or ‘no’. It means that out of Hungary’s more than 8 million voters, at least 2 million have to say either ‘yes’ or ‘no’ so that the question is decided.

At the referendum on Dec. 5, voters were asked two questions, the first being “Do you agree that Hungarian citizenship should be given to any Hungarian living outside Hungary’s borders?”, while the second was “Do you agree that privatization in the healthcare sector should be stopped?”

In response to the double citizenship question, 1.5 million voters said ‘yes,’ while 1.4 million said ‘no.’ At the same time, 1.86 million people said healthcare privatization should be stopped, and close to 1 million said ‘no’ to the question. These results leave both questions undecided.

(The results are as of 10 p.m. Dec. 5, with 98% of the votes counted.)