Despite a low voter turnout in a referendum on whether to accept the European Union's migrant quotas, Prime Minister Victor Orban argues Hungarians have made their views clear.
The EU proposal, intended to ease pressure on Greece and Italy, was aimed at resettling 160,000 people across the EU bloc.
Under the deal, Hungary would need to receive just under 1,300 of those migrants.
But Mr Orban says the Hungarian people have shown they oppose the quotas.
"The Hungarians today, they considered it, and they rejected it. The Hungarians decided that only we Hungarians are allowed to decide on whom we want to live with."
The more than 3.2 million votes cast were actually more than the number of votes cast in the 2003 Hungarian referendum for joining the European Union.
That referendum attracted barely over 3 million voters, although it was enough at the time to qualify as a legitimate result.
However, the latest vote, which has drawn just 40 per cent of the eligible voters, falls short of the 50 per cent now needed to officially legitimise the result.
Along with other ex-communist countries in eastern Europe, the Hungarian government opposes the policy which would require all EU countries to take some of the asylum seekers.
Viktor Orban had responded to Europe's influx of migrants and refugees by sealing Hungary's southern borders with a razor-wire fence and thousands of army and police.
Ahead of the referendum, he urged Hungarians to reject the EU scheme, describing it as a threat to Europe's security and way of life.
"We lose our European values and identity the way frogs are cooked in slowly heating water. Quite simply, slowly, there will be more and more Muslims, and we will no longer recognise Europe."
The fence Hungary installed last year sealed its border with Serbia and Croatia to stop people crossing on their way to Germany and the rest of Europe.
Hungarian police there have been accused of using violence, even against children, as they worked to secure the borders.
On the border of Hungary and Serbia, doctors have treated people who have been beaten or bitten by dogs before being ejected.
Medicins Sans Frontieres' Dr Nevena Radovanovic says it is a distressing situation.
"They don't know where to go. So, we have here psychologists, and we provide for them psychological care, but this is not enough. They just want some happier life for them."
Families have also been separated.
An Afghan man named Mustafa says he crossed the Hungarian border with several family members but they were allowed into a refugee camp and he was not.
He says does not know where his relatives are now.
"The last time I spoke to my family was eight days ago. I've no idea where they are now. My mother is sick, and she's worried about me. I can't do anything but wait."
Some political parties in Hungary have called for Mr Orban to step down as prime minister over the referendum, saying the low turnout has turned it into a fiasco.
