BUDAPEST, Oct. 1 (Xinhua) -- On the eve of a Hungarian government-sponsored referendum on a European Union-initiated idea to distribute refugees among EU members, both right and left wing parties have been issuing last minute statements on Saturday.
The actual question people are being asked to vote "yes" or "no" on is: "Do you want the European Union to be able to prescribe the mandatory settlement of non-Hungarian citizens in Hungary even without the consent of Parliament?"
The government is encouraging people to go to the polls since although months of publicity have convinced people in general to vote "no" and reject the EU idea, the referendum needs participation by 50 percent of all eligible voters, or 4,136,313 people to be valid, which is far less likely.
In fact, some opposition parties, such as the socialist MSZP, have called on people to stay home, while others, such as the left-wing KKP, have suggested that people go to the polls and spoil their ballots, which will reduce the eligibility numbers. Still others, such as the liberal MLP, have called on voters to vote "yes".
The only opposition party supporting a "no" vote is the right wing Jobbik party, which has accused the government of supporting the "illegal migration" and has called for the prime minister to resign, should the referendum fail.
Jobbik party spokesman Istvan Apati told a Saturday news conference that the government had given 1.1 billion forints (about 4 million U.S. dollars) in 2015 to organizations concerned with integration.
In other words, Apati said, while conditioning the people to fear migrants, it was financially supporting their organizations, which included turning money over to people "suspected of terrorism".
On his part, Fidesz (gov't) party parliamentary caucus leader Lajos Kosa called the referendum crucial, although he said that the actual number of people going to the polls was not important.
A majority of "no" votes, he said, would mean that the Hungarian people were authorizing the parliament to refuse to give Brussels the right to decide on whether non-Hungarians could be admitted to Hungary.
If too few people vote to assure a valid referendum, Kosa said, that only meant that the people who failed to vote were letting the decision be made by those who did.
Bence Retvari, a vice chair of the Christian-Democrat KDNP, the tiny party attached to Fidesz, said that Sunday's referendum was the only way to halt "Brussels' rampage," warning that migrants could be forced on Hungary as soon as December unless they voted against it.
Meanwhile, MSZP and the left wing PM party held a joint protest on Saturday.
MSZP chair Gyula Molnar said that the government had spent over 10 million forints (36.7 million dollars) on a publicity campaign that called for a referendum, adding that the issue could have been resolved by a parliamentary decision.
He called for real answers to matters such as education, health care, poverty, corruption, and rule-of-law, instead of the government-emphasized pseudo-problem. He suggested that people stay home on Sunday.
Gergely Karacsony, co-chair of the PM party, who is also mayor of a Budapest district, said Prime Minister Viktor Orban's fear of losing power was slowly becoming pathological and that this referendum was merely part of his power play.
Green LMP party co-chair Bernadett Szel agreed that the refugee policy should be a part of national sovereignty but she found it unacceptable for the Hungarian prime minister to reject an evolving joint European solution.
The referendum, she said, was a way of the cabinet distracting voters and "walking off with billions in taxpayer money."
Ferenc Gyurcsany, chair of the left-wing DK party, said a democratic, benevolent Hungary would win the referendum.
Speaking at a gathering by parliament, during which participants held hands to form a "living chain" around the building, Gyurcsany said that despite unprecedented and aggressive state propaganda, financed with public money, the democratic opposition would beat Viktor Orban and his government.
He too called for voters to stay home and prove the existence of a democratic, humane Hungary, by rendering the ballot invalid.
