Hungary votes on EU membership

With few illusions about immediate advantages but hoping future generations would benefit, Hungarians were today expected to approve their country’s membership of the European Union.

In the latest poll, 78% of likely voters said they would vote Yes to membership. The Gallup poll, performed from March 7-12, surveyed 989 Hungarian adults and had a margin of error of 3.2 percentage points.

The referendum is valid if at least 50% of the eight million eligible voters participate, or if either side gets at least two million ballots. The result is binding.

Voting was taking take place from 6am to 9pm (5am-8pm British time), after a recent government decision extended the opening of polling stations by two hours to give Jews honouring the Sabbath a chance to vote.

When Hungary became a democracy in 1990 – after more than 40 years of communism – many saw EU membership as a panacea which could help right historical wrongs and improve living standards.

The government campaigned intensely for membership and will have spent £15 million promoting the EU by the expected May 2004 accession date.

Meanwhile, voters in Malta were today having their last chance to change their minds on EU membership, a month after their Yes vote.

Prime Minister Eddie Fenech Adami’s conservative government called today’s parliamentary elections in a bid to put to rest any doubts over the Mediterranean nation’s enthusiasm for EU membership after decades of neutrality policies.

The March 8 referendum on EU membership saw Maltese voters line up in favour in joining the bloc, 53.6% to 46.4%.

But opposition Labour leader Alfred Sant challenged Malta’s embrace of EU membership, arguing that the Yes vote represented just under half of the eligible electorate.

The government responded by calling elections several months early.

Many observers have called it Malta’s most important appointment at the polls since the 1964 ballot for independence from Britain.

Sant has vowed to reverse the membership decision if his socialists win.

Results are expected tomorrow.