REYKJAVIK: Icelanders voted on Saturday in a referendum on whether to resume membership negotiations with the European Union, expected to be a tight race that will be closely watched in Brussels.
“I think that we should be a part of a bigger unity. I think it’s worth looking into it,” Unnur Jokulsdottir, a 71-year-old retiree, said after casting her ballot in Reykjavik’s City Hall.
In contrast, Olafur Thorsson, a 53-year-old fish trader, said he was sceptical. “I used to like the European Union back when it was a good thing. But today it’s become a sort of big economic prison,” he said.
The country of just under 400,000 people applied to join the EU in the wake of a 2009 financial crisis that devastated its economy. Membership talks were then suspended in 2013 when a eurosceptic government came to power. Thirteen years later, the referendum result is expected to go down to the wire, with a poll by analyst firm Maskina on Friday giving the ‘Yes’ a slight edge with 50.4 per cent of the vote, a gap within the statistical margin of error.
“This has been a tight race, extremely exciting,” Social Democratic Prime Minister Kristrun Frostadottir said after casting her vote in the capital. She added that the campaign had “lifted discussions about the EU, about Iceland’s place in the world, about our general geopolitical situation and status to a higher level.” Debates have mainly revolved around domestic and economic issues, even if rising international tensions, with the war in Ukraine and US President Donald Trump’s ambitions for neighbouring Greenland, have featured in discussions. Voting began at 9am and closes at 10pm. With no exit polls and given the tight race, the first reliable results are only expected late Saturday at the earliest.
