Lisbon Treaty rejected - final results

In a shock for both the Irish and European political establishment, the European Union’s Lisbon Treaty has been defeated in Thursday’s 26-County referendum.

The final results have shown the treaty was rejected by 53.4% to 46.6%. Turnout was a high 53.1%, at the highest levels of similar European referenda in Ireland.

Justice Minister Dermot Ahern conceded the vote shortly after midday on Friday as tallies came in from around the country showed the treaty had been defeated in an overwhelming number of constituencies.

Political leaders and the international media were present when the result was confirmed by election officials in Dublin Castle this evening. There were jubilant scenes among young ‘No’ campaigners, who chanted, sang and waved banners as the result was read out.

Ireland ranks in surveys as one of the EU’s most pro-European states, and ‘No’ campaigners have been keen to point out that the vote is not a rejection of the Union.

However, they pointed to the anti-democratic nature of the the treaty, which was was itself an effort to resurrect an EU constitution which was rejected in referenda by French and Dutch voters in 2005.

The treaty had the backing of the three main political parties in Ireland, which has prospered under EU membership. Farmers groups, businesses, churches, labour unions and the mainstream media also backed it.

However, in the end, support was mainly limited to Dublin’s wealthy suburbs. The east of the country was closely divided, while the west, south and north were clearly against the treaty.

Europea n bureaucrats were struggling today to come to terms with the result. The need for both the Treaty and the direction of the European project to be re-evaluated had clearly not been taken on board by international political leaders who commented this afternoon.

“Ireland will for sure find a way to ratify this treaty,” Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk told reporters. French officials insisted work on the treaty would continue, while the British government has said their plans to ratify the treaty would go on regardless.

However, the Labour Party leader Eamon Gilmore, who backed the treaty, accepted it was now “dead” and there was no possibility of a re-run. Such was the outcome for the Nice Treaty of 2001, which passed almost unchanged in a second referendum after initially being rejected. The high turnout on Thursday, and the major public debate which took place in the latter weeks of the campaign, indicate a profound problem for Lisbon Treaty supporters.

Sinn Fein’s Mary Lou McDonald said it would be impossible for Irish leaders to wriggle out of the referendum result.

“This is a moment of democratic truth here. Do you listen to the people or don’t you?”

She said that the Taoiseach Brian Cowen would have to get the treaty negotiated.

FINAL RESULTS (View using fixed font)

 
 

 Constituency          Electorate   Turnout             Yes                 No


 Carlow-Kilkenny        103,397     52,644 (50.9%)      26,210 (50.0%)      26,206 (50.0%)
 Cavan-Monaghan          92,920     49,649 (53.4%)      22,346 (45.2%)      27,113 (54.8%)
 Clare                   77,398     40,617 (52.5%)      20,982 (51.8%)      19,490 (48.2%)
 Cork East               83,850     42,398 (50.6%)      18,177 (43.0%)      24,052 (57.0%)
 Cork North Central      65,738     35,120 (53.4%)      12,440 (35.6%)      22,546 (64.4%)
 Cork North West         63,574     35,358 (55.6%)      16,253 (46.1%)      18,991 (53.9%)
 Cork South Central      89,844     49,455 (55.0%)      22,112 (44.9%)      27,166 (55.1%)
 Cork South West         58,225     32,184 (55.3%)      14,235 (44.4%)      17,806 (55.6%)
 Donegal-North East      56,195     25,654 (45.7%)       9,006 (35.3%)      16,504 (64.7%)
 Donegal-South West      60,079     27,946 (46.5%)      10,174 (36.6%)      17,659 (63.4%)
 Dublin Central          57,864     28,265 (48.8%)      12,328 (43.8%)      15,816 (56.2%)
 Dublin Mid-West         61,622     31,833 (51.7%)      12,577 (39.6%)      19,182 (60.4%)
 Dublin North            81,550     45,077 (55.3%)      22,696 (50.6%)      22,194 (49.4%)
 Dublin North-Central    51,156     31,245 (61.1%)      15,772 (50.6%)      15,396 (49.4%)
 Dublin North-East       52,432     29,991 (57.2%)      12,917 (43.2%)      16,973 (56.8%)
 Dublin North-West       49,893     26,394 (52.9%)       9,576 (36.4%)      16,749 (63.6%)
 Dublin South            87,855     51,342 (58.4%)      32,190 (62.9%)      19,005 (37.1%)
 Dublin South West       67,499     36,181 (53.6%)      12,601 (34.9%)      23,456 (65.1%)
 Dublin South-Central    81,743     42,170 (51.6%)      16,410 (39.0%)      25,624 (61.0%)
 Dublin South-East       56,202     27,871 (49.6%)      17,111 (61.7%)      10,644 (38.3%)
 Dublin West             52,173     28,421 (54.5%)      13,573 (47.9%)      14,754 (52.1%)
 Dun Laoghaire           84,710     49,810 (58.8%)      31,524 (63.5%)      18,149 (36.5%)
 Galway East             80,569     40,124 (49.8%)      18,728 (46.9%)      21,230 (53.1%)
 Galway West             85,642     42,844 (50.0%)      19,643 (46.1%)      23,011 (53.9%)
 Kerry North             54,787     28,120 (51.3%)      11,306 (40.4%)      16,702 (59.6%)
 Kerry South             51,338     27,257 (53.1%)      11,569 (42.6%)      15,571 (57.4%)
 Kildare North           71,429     36,815 (51.5%)      20,045 (54.6%)      16,653 (45.4%)
 Kildare South           57,145     27,858 (48.7%)      13,470 (48.5%)      14,308 (51.5%)
 Laois-Offaly           105,053     56,992 (54.3%)      31,786 (56.0%)      24,963 (44.0%)
 Limerick East           76,735     39,444 (51.4%)      18,085 (46.0%)      21,191 (54.0%)
 Limerick West           57,847     29,958 (51.8%)      13,318 (44.6%)      16,511 (55.4%)
 Longford-West Meath     81,834     42,065 (51.4%)      19,371 (46.3%)      22,502 (53.7%)
 Louth                   83,458     44,565 (53.4%)      18,586 (41.9%)      25,811 (58.1%)
 Mayo                    95,250     48,822 (51.3%)      18,624 (38.3%)      30,001 (61.7%)
 Meath East              67,415     34,148 (50.7%)      17,340 (50.9%)      16,703 (49.1%)
 Meath West              62,816     32,589 (51.9%)      14,442 (44.5%)      18,028 (55.5%)
 Roscommon-South Leitrim 59,728     33,962 (56.9%)      15,429 (45.6%)      18,402 (54.4%)
 Sligo-North Leitrim     55,591     29,228 (52.6%)      12,602 (43.3%)      16,496 (56.7%)
 Tipperary North         55,941     32,750 (58.5%)      16,235 (49.8%)      16,367 (50.2%)
 Tipperary South         53,687     29,756 (55.4%)      13,853 (46.8%)      15,755 (53.2%)
 Waterford               72,052     38,474 (53.4%)      17,502 (45.7%)      20,812 (54.3%)
 Wexford                101,124     53,369 (52.8%)      23,371 (44.0%)      29,793 (56.0%)
 Wicklow                 85,918     52,272 (60.8%)      25,936 (49.8%)      26,130 (50.2%)


 Total                3,051,278  1,621,037 (53.1%)     752,451 (46.6%)     862,415 (53.4%)

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