Hungary: Lawmakers Reject Anti-Migrant Constitutional Change

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) —
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban addresses a ceremony held to mark the 5th anniversary of the proclamation of the new constitution in the Parliament building in Budapest, Hungary, Monday, April 25, 2016. (Tamas Kovacs/MTI via AP)
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. (Tamas Kovacs/MTI via AP)

Hungary’s prime minister has failed in his attempt to push through constitutional amendments to oppose any future plan by the European Union to resettle asylum seekers among members of the bloc.

Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s Fidesz party failed to secure any opposition support and fell two votes short of the two-thirds majority necessary in Tuesday’s vote.

Orban proposed the changes after an Oct. 2 referendum in which over 98 percent of voters supported the government’s anti-migrant position. However, the plebiscite was invalid due to low voter turnout.

Analyst Zoltan Cegledi said Orban’s failure was a “defeat of power politics … which puts Orban in the difficult position of having to explain why he isn’t capable of achieving anything.”

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