 In other words, despite larger-than-ever numbers of voters rejecting the single candidate put forward by the Front (an exercise of defiance that carried great risk—including being sacked from a job or expelled from university), the vote had been flagrantly rigged.Increasing numbers of citizens applied for exit visas or left the country illegally.In August 1989, Hungary's reformist government removed its border restrictions with Austria — the first breach in the so-called "Iron Curtain".