REYKJAVIK: Icelanders started voting on Saturday (Aug 29) in a referendum on whether or not to renew membership negotiations with the European Union, in a decent race that can be carefully watched in Brussels.
The nation of slightly below 400,000 folks utilized to affix the EU within the wake of a 2009 monetary disaster that devastated its financial system.
The membership talks have been suspended in 2013 when a eurosceptic authorities got here to energy.
The referendum result’s anticipated to go right down to the wire, with the newest Gallup ballot crediting the “No” camp with 51.6 per cent of voter assist and the “Sure” facet with 48.4 per cent, a niche throughout the statistical margin of error.
“It is fairly tight, however I am all the time optimistic,” International Minister Thorgerdur Katrin Gunnarsdottir, a staunch europhile, advised AFP forward of the vote. “It isn’t executed till it is executed.”
Voting started at 9am and closes at 10pm. With no exit polls and given the tight race, the primary dependable outcomes are solely anticipated late on Saturday on the earliest.
Round 273,000 voters are being requested to reply “Sure” or “No” to the query: “Ought to Iceland resume accession negotiations with the EU?”
If the “Sure” facet wins, an accession settlement could be negotiated with Brussels after which put to a brand new referendum on precise membership.
The problem of fisheries – a pillar of Iceland’s financial system and over which Reykjavik desires to retain unique management – must be hammered out with Brussels, which this time round seems extra prepared to compromise.
“The basics (of the talk) are very home, however there’s a important impression that has include the second time period of (US President) Donald Trump and this type of geopolitical upheaval,” Bifrost College political scientist Eirikur Bergmann advised AFP.
With Iceland’s financial system now flourishing, some voters see no motive to debate EU membership, for the reason that nation already has entry to the only market as a member of the European Financial Space.
“It is like in case you are in a relationship with somebody you do not stay with, and in case you lose one thing you’ve got by getting married, then why get married?” stated Hjordis Vilhjalmsdottir, a 60-year-old radio presenter sporting glasses within the purple, blue and white of Iceland’s flag.
“We do not want Brussels to rule us. We will do it ourselves,” stated Elias Theodorsson, a 65-year-old entrepreneur.
“We was one of many poorest international locations in Europe solely 100 years in the past. And now we’re probably the most distinguished nation in Europe. We did it ourselves,” he stated.
