- Title: SWEDEN: EXIT POLL SHOWS THAT SWEDEN HAS VOTED "NO" TO THE EURO
- Date: 14th September 2003
- Summary: (W7) STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN (SEPTEMBER 14, 2003) (REUTERS) 1. GRAPHIC: BEGINNING OF SVT TELEVISION BROADCAST AFTER THE POLLING STATIONS HAVE CLOSED 0.10 2. PRESENTER SAYING (Swedish) "POLLING STATIONS have closed. Swedish people have made their choice." 0.19 3. PAN THROUGH STUDIO; PRESENTER SAYING: "Now we are going to say something very interesting. 7000 thousand voters have told us how they voted on their way back from the polling stations. 0.34 4. SCU: STATISTICIAN TORBJORN THEDEEN ANNOUNCING THE RESULTS OF THE EXIT POLL (Swedish) 0.41 5. GRAPHICS SHOWING THE RESULTS OF THE EXIT POLL. 51.1 PERCENT AGAINST EURO, 46.2 FOR EURO, 2 PERCENT HAVE CAST BLANK BALLOTS/ PRESENTER SAYING (Swedish) "Significant lead for 'No' side." 0.56 6. SV: EXTERIORS SOCIAL DEMOCRATIC PARTY HEADQUATERS 0.59 7. SV: PRIME MINISTER GORAN PERSSON ARRIVING AT THE HEADQUATERS 1.5 HOURS BEFORE CLOSING OF THE POLLING STATIONS 1.05 8. SCU: SOUNDBITE (English) PERSSON ANSWERING THE QUESTION ABOUT HIS EXPECTATIONS: "No [no comments]. No one does before closing of the polling stations." 1.13 9. MV: MEDIA SURROUNDING PERSSON AS HE ENTERS HEADQUARTERS 1.16 10. MV: INTERIORS HEADQUARTERS OF GREEN AND LEFT PARTIES ('No' side) 1.19 11. SV: 'NO' SUPPORTERS LISTENING TO TV BROADCAST, CHEERING AFTER THEY HEAR THE PRELIMINARY RESULTS 1.33 12. VARIOUS 'NO' SUPPORTERS CELEBRATING (5 SHOTS) 1.53 13. SCU: SOUNDBITE (English) GREEN PARTY LEADER MARIA WETTERSTRAND: "I am really very sad because of events of the last days. And this (preliminary results) does not help unfortunately. But we do not know the results yet so it is very difficult to comment on this. We are waiting for the final results. It is positive but it is very difficult to feel happy." 2.28 14. SV: BAND PLAYING 2.31 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 29th September 2003 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN
- Country: Sweden
- Reuters ID: LVA1P4G39G9PYY3XG4ESEVLV6BCY
- Story Text: Swedes have voted "No" to the euro on Sunday, an
exit poll has showed, despite some last-minute gains for
the "Yes" side after the murder of pro-euro Foreign
Minister Anna Lindh.
A poll of at least 7,000 voters by SVT public
television broadcast minutes after ballots closed at 1800
GMT on Sunday (September 14) gave the "No" side 51.8
percent versus 46.2 percent for the "Yes" camp, signalling
defeat for Prime Minister Goran Persson.
"A 'No' result seems quite clear," said Torbjorn
Thedeen, a statistics expert in charge of SVT's exit poll.
"This is only an exit poll, but I do believe in a 'No'
victory," the anti-euro Left Party's secretary Pernilla
Zethraeus told Reuters.
The centre-left government's minister in charge of the
euro campaign, Gunnar Lund, held out hope of a
"considerable" change between the exit poll and the
official result, but conceded: "It looks more likely to be
a 'No', that's for sure."
If confirmed by full results expected at 1930 GMT, it
would be a setback for the European Union's most ambitious
economic project, already rejected by Danish voters. The
EU's third euro outsider, Britain, has yet to put it to the
electorate.
Financial markets had widely priced in a rejection of
Sweden joining the euro, which would have happened in 2006
at the earliest. The government rules out another vote
before 2013.
Sweden's euro sceptics had led in opinion polls since
April, but Lindh's death on Thursday from wounds inflicted
by a lone knifeman had raised the chances of an upset "Yes"
victory.
The Swedish result contrasted with a resounding "Yes"
to EU membership across the Baltic in Estonia's referendum
on Sunday.
But celebrations among apparent euro-sceptic victors
were ikely to be mute in a country still in mourning for
Lindh, whose murder brought back bitter memories of the
unsolved
assassination of Prime Minister Olof Palme in 1986.
Green Party leader Maria Wtterstrand said "We are
waiting for the final results. It is positive but it is
very difficult to feel happy."
Euro sceptics among Sweden's seven million eligible
voters feared the euro would mean price rises, and that
surrendering monetary policy to the European Central Bank
in Frankfurt would endanger tax income funding the
cradle-to-grave welfare system.
Persson, who was supported by the major political
parties and big business, had argued the euro would boost
trade, meaning stronger growth and plentiful funding for
welfare.
But he apparently failed to convince the Nordic country
of nine million people -- whose unemployment is lower and
growth higher than the 12-nation euro zone's average --
that it had anything to gain from joining the common
currency.
Neither did his warnings that Sweden would lose
influence on EU decision-making prevail against a "No" side
led by leftists, Greens and top government dissidents, who
struck a chord with women and voters in far-flung areas
dependent on subsidies for childcare, state handouts and
public-sector jobs.
A "Yes" would make Sweden the first EU state to endorse
the euro at the ballot box since the currency's launch in
1999. The Danes rejected it in a vote in 2000 and Sweden's
decision could put them off trying again.
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