The result of yesterday's referendum on EU migrant quotas was a resounding "No" by Hungarian voters. However, the referendum was unsuccessful because only 43% of eligible voters participated. The Democratic Coalition, along with some other opposition parties, campaigned aggressively for people to abstain from voting. This campaign appears to have been a success since the majority of eligible voters stayed home. From your perspective, what is the significance of this result and what impact will it have on Hungarian politics in the months and years to come?

The Prime Minister's plan which aimed to focus Hungary's political discussions on the migrant issue and hide the setbacks of his governance has clearly failed this time. There are two options left for open to him, either he corrects the strategy of the politics he has been following, or he comes out with an amendment of the constitution which could not be backed by far-right Jobbik and clears the way to get a legitimate reason to dissolve the Parliament and to set early elections. In that latter case he can try to get back the lost two-thirds majority in the parliament, since in the first case he could jeopardize even his 50% majority.

Although only a minority of eligible voters cast ballots, of those who did an overwhelming majority rejected the EU's approach to resettling migrants. Given rising anti-migrant sentiment across Europe, including recent local election losses by Angela Merkel's party in Germany, do you believe that the low turnout in Hungary was due to an implicit acceptance by the majority of the population of the migrant policies of Brussels or simply a rejection of the policies and approach of Fidesz and Victor Orban?

Every poll show that the majority of Hungarians bears a huge fear towards the migrants who might come here. The main reason for the invalid quota referendum is not the support of Brussels migrant policies but the rejection of Orban's policies and campaign, as well as the effective campaign of the opposition during the last few months.

Many opposition politicians, including yourself, have suggested that Fidesz undertook this referendum campaign in order to distract voters from the serious allegations of corruption against the government. Now that the referendum is behind us, what do you believe Fidesz will do to continue to draw voters' attention away from the corruption allegations?

The Prime Minister's strategy is clear, he wants to thematize the public and to deteriorate the public attention from the omni-present corruption, the insupportable situation of the health care system and the continuous crisis of the educational system.

The latest voter preference polls show Fidesz with 43% support, Jobbik with 18%, MSZP with 15% and DK with 10%. Are you satisfied with DK's standing in the polls and the trends observed over the past two years?

The Democratic Coalition is the only political party in Hungary which was able to increase significantly its popularity since 2014 (the last Parliamentary elections – editor). If the trend keeps up, we have a real chance to get to around 15% support by 2018.

Source: FreeHungary

Republished with permission