Ireland abortion referendum results – what were the final results of the vote and does it affect Northern Ireland?
VOTERS in the Republic of Ireland went to the polls on May 25 to decide whether to make abortion legal.
And in an historic day for the country a landslide victory saw a referendum overwhelmingly back repealing the eighth amendment.
What are the official referendum results?
Ireland has voted decisively for a change to its strict abortion laws with a majority of 706, 349 voting for a repeal of the eighth amendment.
The final results were:
- FOR - 1, 429, 981
- AGAINST - 723, 632
The percentage resulty was 66.4 per cent for Yes and 33.6 per cent for No.
What did the exit polls say on the Irish abortion referendum?
The referendum sought the approval of the Irish people to repeal the Eighth Amendment of the constitution - which has imposed some of the world's toughest abortion laws since 1983.
If people voted Yes, the government said it will legislate for unrestricted abortion up to 12 weeks.
Opinion polls showed a strong lead for Yes soon after the referendum was announced earlier this year.
An Irish Times/Ipsos poll published on May 23 of 1,200 eligible voters found 44 per cent of voters would say Yes in the referendum, with 32 per cent voting No and 24 per cent yet to decide or not planning to vote.
After the nation voted on May 25 two major exit polls predicted a landslide victory for the YES campaign.
An RTE poll suggested that almost 70 per cent of voters wanted to see an end to the termination ban.
And a second survey of voters conducted by The Irish Times suggested the margin of those in favour of liberalising the law would be 68 per cent to 32 per cent.
It followed one of the highest reported turnouts for a referendum.
The No campaign, which was led by the group Save the 8th had conceded defeat on its website that Irish voters have perpetrated “a tragedy of historic proportions”.
Despite the official results still a few hours away, celebrations have already erupted at the counting centre after Ireland’s pro-life ‘Save the 8th’ campaign conceded defeat.
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When was the result of the referendum announced?
Voting opened at 7.00am on Friday, May 25.
Irish people living around the world flew home to cast their ballot in the historic poll.
Voting papers from hundreds of communities across the country had to be collected and counted.
Counting began on Saturday morning at 8am, with the result confirmed at around 6pm.
Does the referendum result affect Northern Ireland?
The Republic of Ireland’s referendum result does not affect Northern Ireland which is part of the United Kingdom.
Northern Ireland’s abortion laws are more restrictive than in the rest of the UK and politicians from various parties have called on Theresa May to push for reform.
Arlene Foster, leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), said: "Friday's referendum has no impact upon the law in Northern Ireland, but we obviously take note of issues impacting upon our nearest neighbour.
"The legislation governing abortion is a devolved matter and it is for the Northern Ireland Assembly to debate and decide such issues."