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Vote counting begins in Scotland on independence
From the capital of Edinburgh to the far-flung Shetland Islands, Scots embraced a historic moment â and the rest of the United Kingdom held its breath â after voters turned out in unprecedented numbers for an independence referendum that could end the country's 307-year union with England
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rom the capital of Edinburgh to the far-flung Shetland Islands, Scots embraced a historic moment ' and the rest of the United Kingdom held its breath ' after voters turned out in unprecedented numbers for an independence referendum that could end the country's 307-year union with England.
After the polls closed late Thursday, many Scots settled in to stay up all night in homes and bars, awaiting the result that could change their lives, shake financial markets worldwide and boost other independence movements from Flanders to Catalonia to Quebec.
A nationwide count began immediately at 32 regional centers across Scotland.
For some, it was a day they had dreamed of for decades. For others, the time had finally come to make up their minds about the future ' both for themselves and for the United Kingdom.
"Fifty years I fought for this," said 83-year-old Isabelle Smith, a Yes supporter in Edinburgh's maritime district of Newhaven, a former fishing port. "And we are going to win. I can feel it in my bones."
At the Highland Hall outside Edinburgh, where the final result will be announced sometime after 0500GMT (1 a.m. EDT) Friday, vote-counters at dozens of tables sorted through paper ballots, watched keenly by monitors from the Yes and No camps.
Eager voters had lined up outside some polling stations even before they opened at 7 a.m. Thursday. Many polling stations were busy and turnout was expected to be high. More than 4.2 million people had registered to vote ' 97 percent of those eligible ' including residents as young as 16.
Many questions ' the currency an independent Scotland would use, its status within the 28-nation European Union and NATO, the fate of Britain's nuclear-armed submarines, based at a Scottish port ' remain uncertain or disputed after months of campaigning.
One thing was known: A Yes vote would trigger 18 months of negotiations between Scottish leaders and London-based politicians on how the two countries would separate their institutions before Scotland's planned Independence Day on March 24, 2016.
