For British PM Gordon Brown outside a polling booth. By 9.30 a.m. IST Friday, it will be known whether Scotland will remain a part of the United Kingdom or become independent. The vote is on a knifes edge.
The referendum underway Thursday could witness an unprecedentedly high turnout of voters for Scotland. Nearly 4.3 million people have registered to vote, which translates to 97 percent of those who are eligible to do so.
As they enter a polling booth, the question the voters are asked is: “Should Scotland be an independent country?” The answer had to be “Yes” or “No”.
Queues not seen before snaked out of the 5,579 polling stations established for the purpose. Counting of votes will begin soon after the booths close at 2.30 a.m. IST.
Karthik Subramanya, president of the Scottish Indian Arts Forum, said: “From an Indian point of view, clearly a vast majority are backing the ‘No’ campaign as they see more risk and not sufficient emotional reward.”
The leader of the “Yes” campaign and Scottish Nationalist Party leader Alex Salmond, and the unofficial standard bearer of the “Better together” crusader Gordon Brown were out early to cast their votes. But pictures of them outside polling stations were all that could be depicted by media, as sound bites or any reporting of campaigning were debarred on voting day.
The most recent opinion survey published Wednesday night by You-Gov projected “No” supporters at 50 percent and “Yes” supporters at 45 percent, with the rest being “don’t knows”.
Scottish tennis player Andy Murray declared his support for the “yes” campaign for Scottish independence, saying “Let’s do it!” on his Twitter account.
Murray, winner of the Wimbledon tennis tournament in 2013, had remained unbiased so far in the debate over the independence referendum held in Scotland Thursday, but shortly before the start of voting he broke his silence on Twitter.
Polling stations opened at 6 a.m. GMT Thursday in Scotland for the historic referendum on independence with opinion polls showing a virtual tie between those favouring a “yes” vote and those favouring “no”.
Around 4.3 million voters over 16 years of age will decide at the polls if they believe Scotland should remain part of the United Kingdom or be an independent country.
Polling will close at 9 p.m. GMT.
The result of the vote cannot be guessed, although the latest opinion polls showed a four-point lead for the “no” vote.
“Today is a great day for Scotland!” said Murray, stressing his support for “yes” in the referendum after the negative “no” campaign waged in recent days, which warned of the economic risks of independence.
“I’m excited to see the result,” noted the tennis player.
Despite his support for the “yes” vote, Murray cannot take part in the referendum as he does not reside in Scotland.
Voters resident in Scotland, including European Union citizens and members of the Commonwealth, have registered to cast their ballots in the referendum in which they are to answer “yes” or “no” to the question: “Should Scotland be an independent country?”
Last month, the player had said that if Scotland became an independent country, he would represent Scotland at sporting events.