Early results from Hungary's vote on granting citizenship to ethnic Hungarians abroad showed 50.2 percent were against and 49.8 percent supported the move with 791,000 votes counted, which means it will likely fail.
For a binding result either turnout had to be 50 percent of the 8 million strong electorate, or at least 25 percent of the voting one way.
Turnout figures by 1630 GMT, an hour and a half before the polls closed put the figure at 33.81 percent.
The citizenship vote, which was paired with a vote on hospital privatisation, would have given passports to up to five million ethnic Hungarians worldwide, of which 2.5 million live in neighbouring Romania, Serbia, Slovakia and Ukraine.
Source: Reuters
06.12.2004