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The Referendum Charade

Referendums are all the rage in Europe, with British, Hungarian, and Dutch voters set to exercise "direct democracy" in the coming months. But while referendums are sometimes used in representative democracies, dictators have historically been much keener on them.

NEW YORK – Referendums are all the rage in Europe. In June, British voters will decide whether the United Kingdom should remain in the European Union. The Hungarian government has called for a referendum on accepting its quota of refugees set by the EU. Hungary’s prime minister, Viktor Orbán, has already said that Hungary would resist letting them in. “All the terrorists are basically migrants,” he said. The referendum is likely to go his way.

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