Referendum – Results expected to arrive between 8pm and 10pm

Budapest (MTI) – The National Election Committee (NVI) expects the results of the referendum to come through from most polling stations between 8pm and 10pm on Sunday, revealing how many Hungarian voters participated in the vote, head of the NVI Ilona Pálffy said on Saturday.

She said 8,272,625 citizens are registered, so 4,136,313 people must cast a valid vote for the referendum to be valid, adding that more than half of those casting valid votes must give the same answer to the question for the referendum to be successful.

The number of voters with a Hungarian residence is 7,997,998, 11,231 of whom will vote at one of Hungary’s embassies abroad while 80,005 are registered to vote at a location in Hungary other than their residence. Many people not resident in Budapest are registered to vote in the capital, which could result in queues, especially in the 11th district, Pálffy said.

A further 274,627 voters are ethnic Hungarians not resident in Hungary, and they can cast their vote by mail.

The biggest polling stations abroad are in London, Munich, Miercurea Ciuc (Romania) and Brussels.

Twenty-three international observers have been registered for the Sunday referendum, according to data on the NVI’s website.

Twelve observers are delegated by the embassies of Mongolia, Denmark, the United Kingdom, the United States and the Netherlands and a further eleven by Romania’s, South Korea’s and Latvia’s national election committees.