Hungary's top court rejects referendum on 2024 Olympic bid

BUDAPEST — Hungary's supreme court on yesterday rejected a proposed referendum on Budapest's bid for the 2024 Olympics, frustrating opponents of the candidacy who vowed to continue efforts to let voters decide on the project.

The court said the question proposed for the referendum was invalid because the vote would be held after the Feb. 17 deadline for submitting the bid's documentation to the International Olympic Committee.

"The question suggests that voters may give their opinion about the submission of the bid, even though it will have been submitted by the time of the referendum," the Kuria, as the supreme court is now called, said in a statement.

The Kuria also noted that city officials had already approved the initiative last year and notified the IOC of Budapest's intention to bid. The Hungarian Olympic Committee and Prime Minister Viktor Orban's government are also behind the bid.

The proposed referendum's question was: "Do you agree that the Municipality of Budapest should not bid to organize the 2024 Summer Olympics and Paralympics?"

The Kuria said its ruling, which overruled a decision by the Budapest Electoral Board, was final and could not be appealed.

Referendum advocate Katalin Erdelyi said she was planning to submit another question on the issue to the Budapest Electoral Board.

"We are not resigning ourselves to this result," Erdelyi said. "The court's decision is illogical."

Opposition groups also criticized the Kuria ruling.

The Together party said the supreme court "made an unacceptable political decision" which prevented citizens from voting on questions which "significantly affect their lives."

Should a referendum question gain approval from the courts, organizers would also have to gather 140,000 signatures within a few weeks in support of holding the vote.

Los Angeles, Rome and Paris are the other bidders. The bid from Hamburg, Germany, was dropped after it was defeated in a referendum.

The IOC will select the host city in September 2017.

Budapest is the only of the four bid cities that has never hosted the Olympics.

Last week, Hungary's parliament designated a committee dubbed the "Guardians of the Bid" led by Olympic fencing champion and former Hungarian President Pal Schmitt to lead the candidacy.