For a referendum to be called by parliament, at least 200,000 signatures should have been collected from August 1 to November 28.

Biró said he still hoped parliament would take it into consideration that a recent public survey showed 96% of Hungarians would like December 24 to be a public holiday.

Bíró attributed the relative failure of the signature drive to the legislative environment which he said discourages organisations from participating in the collection of signatures by imposing a fine on lost signature-collection forms.

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