Unofficial preliminary results with votes from 729 election precincts counted show that only about 20 percent of Slovaks voted in the referendum held on Saturday, September 18, according to the Slovak Statistics office. In Slovakia, a referendum is only valid if more than 50 percent of all registered voters take part.
The Statistics Office of the Slovak Republic has been publishing preliminary results as returns from each precinct arrive. However, SITA newswire reported that the official website of the statistics authority was not accessible 58 minutes after the polling stations closed.