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Hungarian Migrant Quota Referendum Is 'Clear Articulation of the People's Will'

© Flickr / Dennis JarvisView of Hungarian Parliament, Budapest
View of Hungarian Parliament, Budapest - Sputnik International
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During a recent referendum, the vast majority of Hungarian residents backed the government and rejected the EU's migrant resettlement quota. Radio Sputnik discussed Hungary's referendum with the government spokesman, Zoltan Kovacs.

Kovacs stated that the EU will have to respect the outcome of the referendum as it is "a very clear articulation of the Hungarian people's will."

Earlier, European Commission's Chief Spokesperson Margaritis Schinas said that the institution would take into account the results of the Hungarian referendum on the EU's scheme of relocating migrants and refugees across the bloc.

"You always have to respect the results [of a referendum] especially if it is on particular topic and especially if you have 3.3 million votes showing to the one direction that is a ‘No,'" Kovacs said.

According to Kovacs, the quota mechanism which currently exists in the European Union is "simply wrong" and means "inviting more and more people." The EU member states should enhance border controls and find new mechanism of resolving the current migration crisis or otherwise "it goes against the interests of the European Union," the spokesman argued.

Hungarian women wearing traditional costume leave a voting booth at a polling station during a referendum on EU migrant quotas in Veresegyhaz, Hungary, October 2, 2016. - Sputnik International
Hungary’s Refugee Referendum Exposes People's Xenophobic 'Intoxication'
On Sunday, Hungary held a referendum asking the voters whether they wanted the country to accept the EU's quotas for migrants' relocation.

According to the Hungarian National Election Office, less than 40 percent of Hungary's voters took part in Sunday's referendum, which required minimum of 50 percent to be considered as binding. However, the vast majority of those who did vote have backed the government and rejected the EU's migrant quota system.

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