In the constitutional system of the Republic of Hungary one of the means of direct democracy is the institution of national referendum, which allows that voters directly decide issues of great importance concerning them, or express their opinion.

Pursuant to the Constitution of the Republic of Hungary, national referendums may be held with a view to either deciding an issue or voicing voters' opinion, and a referendum shall be conducted either obligatorily or on the grounds of deliberation:

a) A national referendum shall be held on the initiative of at least 200,000 voters. The decision made on the strength of a referendum ordered obligatorily is binding on the Parliament.

b) On the grounds of deliberation a referendum may be ordered, on the initiative of the President of the Republic, the Government, one third of the Members of Parliament or 100,000 voters, by the Parliament. The referendum ordered in such fashion may be either non-binding, i.e., voicing voters' opinion, or binding, i.e., deciding the issue.

The referendum on the accession to the European Union, however, was ordered irregularly by the Constitution itself, specifically in its § 79 included by Act LXI of 2002 on the Amendment, which simultaneously determined the binding nature and the date of the referendum.

A binding national referendum shall be held on the accession of the Republic of Hungary to the European Union in compliance with the Accession Treaty. The date of the referendum shall be 12 April 2003. The question to be put to the referendum shall be: "Do you agree that the Republic of Hungary will be part of the European Union?""

Pursuant to the Constitution, a binding referendum shall be conclusive if more than half but at least one fourth of the voters casting a valid ballot have given the same answer to the question formulated.

The referendum held on 12 April 2003 was conclusive.
83.76 % of voters casting a valid ballot gave the answer YES.

The legal result of the referendum of 12 April 2003

	Turned out	3 669 252 persons	45.62 % of voters
	Did not vote	4 373 020 persons	54.38 % of voters

Do you agree that the Republic of Hungary will be part of the European Union ?
Proportion of valid - invalid votes		Proportion of YES - NO votes
	Valid		YES
	Invalid		NO
To the question asked 99.44 % of the voters turning out, 3 648 717 persons have cast a valid ballot, 0.49 % of the voters turning out, 17 998 persons have cast an invalid ballot, 83.76 % of the voters having cast a valid ballot, 3 056 027 persons have given YES answer, 16.24 % of the voters having cast a valid ballot, 592 690 persons have given NO answer, 38.00 % of all the franchised citizens have given YES answer, 7.37 % of all the franchised citizens have given NO answer.
The referendum is conclusive.