After six hours of counting at King's Hall in South Belfast, it
has been announced that 71.1% of voters in the north of Ireland
have backed the Good Friday talks agreement. Counting in the
southern 26 Counties is continuing, where an overwhelming 95% are
estimated to have backed the constitutional changes mandated by
the agreement.
Sinn Fein chief negotiator Martin McGuinness has said the result
of the referendum represented "a tremendous triumph for hope".
"This will be a tremendous triumph for the promoters of hope and
I think a substantial defeat for those who have tried to kill
hope on this island," he said.
Welcoming the result, party President Gerry Adams said people had
voted for "managed change".
A total of 951,845 voted in the north, representing over 80% of
the electorate in a record turnout, the highest since 1921 in the
north. Unionists were equally split by the poll, which sets up a
new power-sharing Six County assembly, linked to all-Ireland
bodies.
While figures were not available from individual constituencies,
it is understood only arch-unionist hardliner Ian Paisley's north
Antrim constituency rejected the agreement. Paisley's party still
claimed a majority of unionists rejected the agreement. Deputy
leader Peter Robinson insisted that 56% of the unionist community
said no to the deal, based on exit poll figures which showed
virtually all northern nationalists had backed the agreement.
All sides agreed that there would be, in the words of US
Congressman Brice Morrison, "a rough ride" in the assembly over
the next couple of years, as Paisley's party and allies still
plan to wreck the agreement.
"I am going into the assembly to save the union," the firebrand
preacher said today. Referring to the planned release of
political prisoners, Paisley said: "Today is the day the
Government put the gun back into this country."
But prominent anti-agreement campaigner Robert McCartney said it
was "not a good day" for the Union.
"We have an agreement which has apparently been endorsed over 90%
by the nationalist community. How can an agreement endorsed to
that extent by nationalists be good for the Union when the
objective of nationalism is to have a united Ireland?" he said.
Pro-agreement campaigner Lord Alderdice of the Alliance Party
said the vote represented the "settled will" of the people of the
north, while UIster Unionist Party leader David Trimble also
hailed the victory as representing a majority of unionist votes.
Anti-agreement unionist moderate Jeffrey Donaldson said he would
accept the result but he would work in the assembly "to ensure
the safeguards that Tony Blair promised", which he claims include
the decommissioning of IRA weapons as a precondition for Sinn
Fein's participation in the new power-sharing executive.
But Gerry Adams said that Sinn Fein voters would have to be
"accorded the same rights as those who vote for any other party".
He said his party would continue to use what influence it could
to bring about decommissioning of weapons.
"There can be no going back on the details of the agreement," he
said. "I will continue to do what I have been doing for a long
time ... to deliver on the type of changes that are required."
And he pointed out that he had been stopped in west Belfast today
by "armed men" - members of the RUC police and British Army. "We
will continue to work for a lasting peace settlement," he said.
"Don't single out one element"
Adams also indicated that he would consider the idea of an
electoral pact with nationalist rivals of John Hume's SDLP party
at the elections to the assembly on 25 June.
"I think it makes sense, it is important to keep building the
strength of the nationalist vote," he said.
While SDLP Deputy leader Seamus Mallon held out the prospect of
an anlignment with unionists, Sinn Fein's Martin McGuinness
stressed the need to "maximalise" the nationalist vote in the
elections to the new Assembly once the referendum is out of the
way.
He said the divisions within the unionist community made it all
the more important that the nationalists were united. "It is
essential in the coming weeks for the nationalist parties to work
together," he said.
* In the south, the referendum on the Amsterdam Treaty on closer
European integration has seen a substantial rise in the 'No' vote
over similar votes in recent years. Tallies from the polling
stations indicate the measure is likely to be passed by only 63%
to 37%, a result which has been hailed as a triumph by the
Peace and Neutrality Alliance (PANA) umbrella group -- including
Sinn Fein and the Green Party -- which campaigned against the Treaty.
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