01/06/2012
With the Irish referendum results not due until tomorrow, the story of the moment is the low turnout.
The Guardian is saying "well below 50 percent".
Bruno in
The Failygraph is saying that more than halfway through a 13-hour polling day yesterday, voter turnout was still under 20 percent, while
UPI cites officials saying that "fewer than 25 percent of Irish voters turned out.
Although there are no exit polls on which we can rely (as far as I know), we know that a low turnout amongst the 3.1 million eligible voters
tends to favour the "no" vote in Irish EU referendums.
Bruno cites Conor McAleavey, a "yes" voter casting his ballot at St Enda's polling station in Dublin, said that, like many other middle-class Irish people, his support for the fiscal pact was grudging. "It's a big, fat reluctant Yes", he says.
Either way, there is evidently little enthusiasm for the vote, with voters feeling that whichever way it goes, they will be shafted. If they do vote no, though, it will not prevent the treaty going into force in other members of the eurozone, as long as twelve of them complete the ratification process.
As to the result, it seems that this will probably be known by mid-morning.
COMMENT THREAD
