Hungary's double referendum on whether to grant dual citizenship to ethnic Hungarians abroad and whether to stop the privatisation of health care facilities has failed due a low voter turnout, the Central Election Office announced Monday. "The referendum on this question is expected to be invalid," the election office said on its website after 99.35% of the votes had been counted. The official results are due to be published next week after ballots from abroad are counted. The "yes" votes on extending citizenship edged out those against, according to the returns tabulated, with 51.54% of ballots cast in favour and 48.46 percent against. The initiative had drawn fire from neighbouring governments and split Hungary, generating some of the most intense debate since the new European Union member's transition from communism to democracy in 1989. The vote sought to redress what many Hungarians view as an historic injustice -- the loss of two-thirds of its territory and one-third of its population when its borders were redrawn after World War I. Of the 2.5 million ethnic Hungarians living as minorities in neighbouring countries, 1.5 million are in Romania, 600,000 in Slovakia, 300,000 in Serbia and others in Croatia, Ukraine, Slovenia and Austria.

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