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Iceland's EU Referendum: Voting Ends After Fierce Campaign
(MENAFN) Voting concluded across Iceland Saturday at 10 p.m. (2200 GMT), capping a tightly fought referendum on whether the country should reopen negotiations to join the EU.
Cost of living, national security, sovereignty and control over Iceland's fisheries dominated the campaign in the run-up to the vote.
Polling stations began opening as early as 9 a.m. local time, with closing hours varying by county as voting stretched into the evening.
Nearly 400,000 Icelanders were eligible to cast ballots, and preliminary results are expected early Sunday, according to RUV, Iceland's public broadcaster.
Importantly, the referendum itself does not determine whether Iceland joins the bloc. A "Yes" majority would only hand the government a mandate to resume accession negotiations — any resulting membership deal would still need to clear a second referendum before taking effect.
Iceland first applied to join the EU in 2009, in the wake of its banking system's collapse during the global financial crisis. Accession talks got underway in 2010 but were put on hold three years later when a Eurosceptic government came to power. By 2015, Reykjavik had told Brussels it no longer wanted to be treated as a candidate country.
Even so, the European Commission maintains that Iceland's original application remains legally valid and that negotiations are simply paused rather than closed, according to a report from the European Policy Centre (EPC).
Cost of living, national security, sovereignty and control over Iceland's fisheries dominated the campaign in the run-up to the vote.
Polling stations began opening as early as 9 a.m. local time, with closing hours varying by county as voting stretched into the evening.
Nearly 400,000 Icelanders were eligible to cast ballots, and preliminary results are expected early Sunday, according to RUV, Iceland's public broadcaster.
Importantly, the referendum itself does not determine whether Iceland joins the bloc. A "Yes" majority would only hand the government a mandate to resume accession negotiations — any resulting membership deal would still need to clear a second referendum before taking effect.
Iceland first applied to join the EU in 2009, in the wake of its banking system's collapse during the global financial crisis. Accession talks got underway in 2010 but were put on hold three years later when a Eurosceptic government came to power. By 2015, Reykjavik had told Brussels it no longer wanted to be treated as a candidate country.
Even so, the European Commission maintains that Iceland's original application remains legally valid and that negotiations are simply paused rather than closed, according to a report from the European Policy Centre (EPC).
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