The opposition Socialists said that by not getting the two-thirds majority needed, Orbán failed the most expensive vote of all time. His “mendacious and hate-mongering politics” carried out for a year and a half cost nearly 20 billion forints, Socialist group leader Bertalan Tóth said.

He noted that over the past six months, Orbán failed in three “political games”: in Sunday shopping restrictions, the Oct 2 referendum and now the constitutional amendment. Democratic Coalition (DK) deputy chairman László Varju said Orbán had got “two slaps in the face” in a single month: the Oct. 2 quota referendum suggested that Hungarians had rejected his policies and lawmakers in Tuesday’s parliamentary vote expressed a similar view.

“Citing an invalid referendum, the prime minister tried to change the constitution without the authority to do so, but he did not succeed,” he said. Opposition LMP parliamentary group leader Erzsébet Schmuck said her party “rejects accusations that people who have not walked into the Fidesz’s trap are traitors”.

LMP did not take part in the vote because the proposed amendment was just a tool in the referendum campaign rather than a decision by lawmakers on the unlimited immigration quota, she said.

Opposition Együtt said Orbán should now focus “on the country’s real problems” after today’s vote. “The time has now come for Fidesz to give up dividing the country and its hateful campaign of hate and instead deal with the tragic situation in education and health care,” the party said.

Republished with permission of Hungary Matters, MTI’s daily newsletter.