07/12/2004 (Agence Europe) - The referendum in Hungary on 5 December on the granting of double nationality to people of Hungarian extraction living abroad was invalid due to the low turnout. Socialist prime minister Ferenc Gyurcsany, who campaigned for a "no" vote was pleased at the result. The rightwing opposition, the president of the republic and the churches campaigned for a "yes" vote. Since the dismantling of the Austro-Hungarian empire following the first world war, around 2.5 million native Hungarians live in neighbouring countries: 1.5 million in Romania (especially Transylvania), 600 in Slovakia and Croatia, 300,000 in Serbia-Montenegro (border region with Voivdine), 150,000 in Ukraine and tens of thousands in Austria and Slovenia, as well as 1.5 - 2 million who live in the USA. Hungary's neighbours, notably Romania and Slovakia were critical of the referendum. On Monday a European Commission spokesperson underlined that the Hungarian authorities had the perfect right to hold this kind of referendum given that the granting of citizenship was entirely a matter of Member States.