- Title: VARIOUS: COUNTING OF VOTES BEGINS IN NORTHERN IRELAND PEACE DEAL REFERENDUM.
- Date: 23rd May 1998
- Summary: BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND, UNITED KINGDOM (MAY 23, 1998) (RTV - ACCESS ALL) 1. GV: BELFAST STREETS SCENES (2 SHOTS) 0.10 2. GV/CU: PAPERS PREDICTING A 'YES' VOTE (4 SHOTS) 0.27 3. GV/CU: KINGS HALL - WHERE COUNTING TAKING PLACE (2 SHOTS) 0.34 4. GV/SV: SECURITY OUTSIDE KINGS HALL (2 SHOTS) 0.49 5. GV/PAN: PEOPLE ARRIVING TO HELP COUNT VOTE 0.57 6. GV/PAN/GV: INTERIOR OF HALL WHERE VOTE COUNTING IS GETTING UNDERWAY/ SECURITY INSIDE THE HALL (5 SHOTS) 1.19 7. CU: DERMOT NESBITT, ULSTER UNIONIST NEGOTIATOR, SAYING I THINK PEOPLE ARE GENUINELY LOOKING FORWARD TO MAKING PROGRESS. I THINK PEOPLE ARE SAYING NATIONALISTS AND UNIONISTS CAN WORK TOGETHER; WE ARE ALL CITIZENS OF NORTHERN IRELAND (ENGLISH) 1.42 8. GV/LV: MORE OF VOTE COUNTING (2 SHOTS) 1.57 DUBLIN, IRISH REPUBLIC (MAY 23, 1998) (RTV - ACCESS ALL) 9. GV: EXTERIOR OF DUBLIN COUNT CENTRE 2.02 10. SV: DUBLIN COUNT CENTRE 2.08 11. GV: BALLOT BOXES 2.12 12. SV: BALLOT BOX BEING EMPTIED 2.20 13. SV/GV: VARIOUS PEOPLE COUNTING BALLOT PAPERS (5 SHOTS) 2.54 14. TV/PAN: WIDE SHOT OF COUNTING 3.06 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 7th June 1998 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND, UNITED KINGDOM AND DUBLIN, IRISH REPUBLIC
- City:
- Country: Irish Republic EUROPE United Kingdom LATIN AMERICA Northern Ireland
- Reuters ID: LVAANDPZAVBYEPP6E2MKN3ENK4SP
- Story Text: Counting of votes began across the island of Ireland with exit polls showing a big majority north and south of the border backing a landmark deal aimed at bringing peace to Northern Ireland.
The people of Northern Ireland woke on Saturaday (May 23) to predictions that they had given a resounding endorsement to the landmark peace deal.
An exit poll taken during Friday's (May 22 ) vote indicated that a big majority of voters north and south of the Irish border backed the peace agreement.
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.
Vote-counting got underway at 0800gmt in Belfast early on Saturday (May 23).Results were expected by mid-afternoon.
Officials from both sides of the border had reported a big turnout, with a figure of around 80 percent expected in the North.
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.
The agreement proposes maintaining Northern Ireland's links with Britain while building closer ties with Ireland in a bid to end a catalogue of bullets and beatings.
South of the border in the Irish Republic's capital, Dublin counting was also in progress.
In the south the 'Yes' vote was expected to be even larger than in the north.Polls predicted ninety-five percent of voters in the Irish Republic had supported the deal.
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