What the international press writes about the outcome of the referendum

Several illustrious media of the international press expressed their opinions on the result of the Hungarian referendum on migrant quotas. Most articles emphasized Viktor Orbán’s failure and some even reported on the events among the leading articles. Index.hu collected some of them.

Guardian: Hungary’s refugee referendum not valid after voters stay away – “Orbán himself put a positive spin on the low turnout. He argued that while “a valid [referendum] is always better than an invalid [referendum]” the extremely high proportion of no-voters still gave him a mandate to go to Brussels next week “to ensure that we should not be forced to accept people we don’t want to live with in Hungary.”

BBC: Hungary PM claims EU migrant quota referendum victory – “Mr Orbán urged EU decision makers to take note of the result and said he would change Hungary’s constitution to make the decision binding.”

Telegraph: Hungary referendum: 98 per cent of voters say ‘no’ to EU migrant quotas – “Hungary has voted emphatically against accepting EU migrant quotas, exit polls suggest, in a cry of defiance against Brussels that is likely to cement the country’s status as the leader of a “counter-revolution” against the bloc’s central powers.”

CNN: Hungary voters reject EU migrant-resettlement plan, but low turnout invalidates results – “This is a piece of international PR,” said John Dalhuisen, the Europe director for Amnesty International. “This is international marketing. He’s selling himself as the ideologue of a radically different migration policy. You’d characterize (German Chancellor Angela) Merkel as being ‘let them come’ — he’s saying the solution to the refugee crisis, to the migration issues in Europe, is ‘let no one come.'”

Franfurter Allgemeine Zeitung: Ungarn verweigern Abstimmung über Flüchtlingsquoten – Orbán’s invalid referendum on migrant quotas is a failure according to FAZ online. The Hungarian government started an unexampled campaign to mobilise voters, in which they connected the topic with criminalism and terrorism. From this point of view, the invalidity of the referendum means a sensitive loss for Orbán.