More than 95% of participants in Sunday’s referendum sided with Orbán by voting against the admission of refugees to Hungary, allowing him to claim an “outstanding” victory. Hungarian referendum decides whether to slam the door on migrants Read moreHe argued that the poll would encourage a wave of similar votes across the EU. But despite the biggest and most divisive advertising campaign in Hungarian history, Orbán failed to entice enough voters to the ballot box. Initial results suggested that about 45% of the Hungarian electorate participated, significantly less than the 50% threshold needed to validate the referendum. Of Hungary’s 20,000 advertising hoardings, 5,888 were used for the referendum campaign – considerably more than the 1,200 used by a tobacco firm in the mid-1990s, according to research by Transparency International.

Source: The Guardian October 02, 2016 17:18 UTC