Hungary’s fiercely anti-immigration Prime Minister Viktor Orban on Tuesday failed to push through a constitutional reform rejecting the resettlement of asylum seekers on its soil.
A vote on the bill was backed by just 131 of the 199 lawmakers, falling just two votes short of the two-thirds majority required for major legislation, such as constitutional reform.
The proposed change sought to prevent quotas of immigrants being imposed on Hungary, which is currently fighting a year-old EU agreement on compulsory resettling of refugees.
It is the second time Orban has failed in what he said was a bid to limit imposed immigration. On October 2, the vast majority of Hungarians who voted in a referendum were against imposed immigration, but not enough turned out for a valid vote.
Hungary has been one of the main gateways for around 1.4 million refugees and migrants who surged through Greece and the Balkans since 2015.
During the crisis, Orban emerged as the leader of the anti-immigration front within the European Union, often drawing fire from fellow EU leaders over his fierce rhetoric targeting particularly Muslim migrants and refugees.
In Brussels, an EU spokeswoman declined to comment the Hungarian vote, saying it was a solely national legislation process in an EU-member state.