Hungarians vote in migrant referendum

By Mehmet Yilmaz

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AA) – Voting in a Hungarian referendum on disputed EU migrant quotas began on Sunday.

The referendum asks citizens: "Do you want the European Union to be able to mandate the obligatory resettlement of non-Hungarian citizens into Hungary even without the approval of the National Assembly?"

Some 8.3 million people are eligible to vote across the country until 7 p.m. local time (1700 GMT).

More than 50 percent of voters need to go to the polls for the referendum result to be valid.

The country's ruling Fidesz party, the main opposition Socialists and the radical nationalist Jobbik party support a "no" vote; others have proposed a boycott.

Despite an agreement reached by the EU Council last year to relocate 160,000 refugees from Italy and Greece, EU member states have so far relocated only 5,000 people.

Hungary alone would receive 1,294 asylum seekers.

However, the country, after having experienced a refugee influx in the past year, established fences on its borders with Serbia and Croatia -- actions which prompted international condemnation.