The Story of Hungary’s First Alternative Referendum

In the summer, we took on an ambitious task—organizing a groundbreaking alternative referendum amidst authorities’ attempts to stifle public opinion on Hungarian education. Our latest publication unveils the unprecedented success of Hungary’s first national alternative referendum, accomplished in collaboration with the Hungarian United Student Front.

Over eight days, across 100+ locations and online, almost 115,000 people voted on seven crucial issues facing the Hungarian education system today. The outcome? A resounding victory! We demonstrated the kind of strength that, within a healthy system, has the potential to trigger a referendum at any moment. This strength unsettles those in power, who are increasingly forced to react – which means we now have the initiative.

Read our report on the 7YES alternative referendum here!

In the report, we explain in detail how we came up with the idea of an alternative referendum, and under what circumstances, in what amazing timeframes and against what headwinds we organised this unique initiative for Hungarian democracy.

We will not stop! We are launching a new campaign to collect 1,000,000 blank national consultation forms by the end of January to fight the government’s lies. We are showing that we want to have a say on real issues, not propaganda. You can find all the information about the counter-consultation on 7IGEN.hu (in Hungarian).

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