NORHTERN IRELAND: POLLS CLOSE IN BELFAST WITH MAJORITY OF VOTERS BACKING A PEACE DEAL
Record ID:
328581
NORHTERN IRELAND: POLLS CLOSE IN BELFAST WITH MAJORITY OF VOTERS BACKING A PEACE DEAL
- Title: NORHTERN IRELAND: POLLS CLOSE IN BELFAST WITH MAJORITY OF VOTERS BACKING A PEACE DEAL
- Date: 22nd May 1998
- Summary: BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND, UNITED KINGDOM (MAY 22, 1998) (RTV - ACCESS ALL) 1. LV/SV OF POLLING STATION (6 SHOTS) 0.38 2. MCU LAST VOTER COMING OUT OF POLLING STATION AND SAYING SHE HOPES THERE WILL BE PEACE IN NORTHERN IRELAND SOON (ENGLISH ) 1.02 3. SV/SLV DOORS TO POLLING STATION CLOSED/ WOMEN TAKE OUT THE BALLOT BOXES AND PUT THEM IN THEIR CARS (4 SHOTS) 1.44 4. SLV/SV RUC (ROYAL ULSTER CONSTABULARY) OFFICERS CARRY BALLOT BOXES INTO KING'S HALL WHERE THE OFFICIAL COUNTING OF VOTES WILL TAKE PLACE (3 SHOTS) 2.24 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 6th June 1998 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND, UNITED KINGDOM
- City:
- Country: United Kingdom
- Reuters ID: LVA9VGIRT1GGBB1H07X9IAPPH2AQ
- Story Text: Polls have closed in Belfast, with a majority of voters north and south of the Irish border backing a landmark Northern Ireland peace deal in the first all-island vote in 80 years, an exit poll showed on Saturday.
Preliminary figures from the poll for Ireland's RTE television showed 70 to 75 percent of voters in Northern Ireland had voted "Yes" in Friday's referendum.Ninety-five percent of voters in the Irish Republic had supported the deal.
Official results from the referendum were due to be announced on Saturday afternoon.
The exit poll revealed a gulf in British-ruled Northern Ireland between Roman Catholics who strongly backed the deal and pro-British Protestants who were split clean down the middle.
Of 1,600 voters surveyed in the North, 99 percent of Catholics said "Yes" while Protestants were divided 50-50.
The split among Protestants reflected opposition to the peace deal's provisions for the early release of prisoners jailed for their part in three decades of conflict which cost some 3,600 lives.
The Sinn Fein political wing of the Irish Republican Army (IRA), which declared a truce last July, conceded that the Protestant divide was a concern.
There were no reports of violence during the voting.
Security had been stepped up throughout the day to guard against potential attacks.
Police officers patrolled in and near polling stations to avert attacks by dissident groups.
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