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 good race that will likely be carefully watched in Brussels.
The nation of just below 400,000 folks utilized to hitch the EU within the wake of a 2009 monetary disaster that devastated its economic system.
The membership talks had 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 spot 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 can be negotiated with Brussels after which put to a brand new referendum on precise membership.
The difficulty of fisheries – a pillar of Iceland’s economic system and over which Reykjavik needs to retain unique management – must be hammered out with Brussels, which this time round seems extra keen to compromise.
“The basics (of the controversy) are very home, however there’s a vital influence that has include the second time period of (US President) Donald Trump and this kind of geopolitical upheaval,” Bifrost College political scientist Eirikur Bergmann advised AFP.
With Iceland’s economic system now flourishing, some voters see no purpose to debate EU membership, for the reason that nation already has entry to the one market as a member of the European Financial Space.
“It is like if you’re in a relationship with somebody you do not dwell with, and when you lose one thing you will have by getting married, then why get married?” stated Hjordis Vilhjalmsdottir, a 60-year-old radio presenter carrying 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.
