The overwhelming number of no votes will carry a considerable political significance, even if overall turnout may fall short of the 50 percent threshold required for a referendum to be considered valid.
According to the latest voter participation rates, the overall turnout will reach a level similar to voter turnout for the referendum in 2003 on Hungary joining the EU.
Furthermore, the total number of votes may reach nearly 3 million, compared to the 2.3 million votes that the governing parties received at the last parliamentary elections, giving the Orbán Government a strong mandate in its continued opposition to the EU’s migrant resettlement quota package.
Because the government initiated the referendum itself, it will consider the referendum result as binding on its policies going forward and, in particular, in the upcoming debates in Brussels.