Referendum a Success; Fees to be Abolished

Hungarian voters rejected nominal medical fees and post-secondary tuition fees by a overwhelming margin in Sunday’s referendum, as 82-84% of those who turned out opposed the charges.

Turnout was 50.5%, slightly above most pollsters’ forecasts, and a record for a referendum in Hungary. The result is valid and binding, because at least 25% of eligible voters voted the same way, and turnout exceeded 50%.

Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsány said the cabinet will submit the relevant legislation on abolishing the fees to Parliament today.

Gyurcsány stressed that the government has no intention of making up for the lost revenue, and that the budget will not make up for the shortfall.

However, the opposition’s ultimate aim behind the referendum – to oust the cabinet – had failed, he declared. Gyurcsány added that the position of the governing parties – notably that if you want to have better education and better health care, then they need more funds – has not changed. Either ordinary people pay for them directly or through social insurance contributions, he said. Three million people did not understand this but four million did by not going to the polls, he observed.

He concluded by saying: “After the difficult 18 months that are behind us, we shall have more opportunities in the next two years to speak and act together.”

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medical fees,  tuition fees, Hungary