Dutch vote against Ukraine-EU deal in referendum: preliminary result

[webfact]

Dutch vote against Ukraine-EU deal in referendum: preliminary result
Source: Xinhua

THE HAGUE, April 7 (Xinhua) -- A vast majority of the Dutch voters rejected the Ukraine-European Union Association Agreement in a referendum on Wednesday, with the turnout being just above the threshold of 30 percent.

According to a preliminary result presented by Dutch news agency ANP, around 61.5 percent voted against the agreement, while almost 37.7 percent voted in favor of the deal and 0.8 percent voted invalid. Based on 79.9 percent of the votes the turnout will be 32.2 percent. A voter turnout of less than 30 percent would have made the referendum invalid.

The referendum results provide an opinion and are, according to the law, not binding. A majority of "no" voters will force the government to reconsider the agreement, but that does not necessarily mean a final rejection.

Full story: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2016-04/07/c_135256473.htm

-- Xinhua 2016-04-07

[Mosha]

The winner was apathy.

Sent from my SMART_4G_Speedy_5inch using Tapatalk

[nontabury]

Strangely no mention of this in the Guardian or the Independent.

[ardsong]

well the message has reached the island west of The Netherlands, as Nigel Farange on his Twitter writes :

quote" Dutch exit polls seem to indicate big No to EU vote. Hooray! " unquote

[RickBradford]

Strangely no mention of this in the Guardian or the Independent.

It crept timidly onto the BBC, where it was quickly shredded and sent to the wastebasket.

At no point was the scale of the defeat or indeed the percentage mentioned. The BBC line was to play down the significance, low turnout, nothing to see etc. Nor did they report Dutch PM Mark Rutte confirming that the EU-Ukraine deal is now dead and buried as a result of this vote. All very predictable.

Nothing must be allowed to disturb the narrative -- Europe DoublePlusGood!

EDIT: I see that in the last couple of hours the BBC have added a story to their website, well covered in fluff, where the numbers are given. Of course, the first stat given is "Turnout was low...."

Edited April 7, 2016 by RickBradford

[Ulic]

The referendum vote may not be binding but it would be a brave politician who goes

against such a one sided vote. That said I am left wondering what the usual turnout

is for referendums in the Netherlands.

[Steely Dan]

There's the joke about the accountant who asks the company MD what he wants the number to be. Likewise I suspect the Dutch will be offered several opportunities to vote the 'right' way.

P.S I wonder what the figures for Turkish accession would have been?

[Ghostnigel]

I am happy, because Nigel Farage got what he wanted. Another baby-step towards our own OUT vote...love it.