Fine Gael exit poll boost for Yes campaign

COUNTING in the Lisbon Treaty referendum gets under way this morning with the official result expected to be declared in the late afternoon.

Reliable indications of the result will come much earlier, however, as the ballot boxes are opened around the country and officials from all the political parties tally the votes.

Fine Gael conducted an exit poll which suggested the treaty would be passed by a comfortable margin. With the exit poll almost completed last night, the party was estimating the Yes side would end up with roughly 60% of the vote. The party said it had polled 1,000 people in 33 locations. Fine Gael’s director of elections Billy Timmins, said: “These are very encouraging numbers for the Yes campaign.”

A Yes vote would came as a massive relief for Taoiseach Brian Cowen, whose fate as both leader of the country and Fianna Fáil is thought to hinge on the outcome. It would also be welcomed by other EU leaders, who fear an institutional crisis if the treaty were to be defeated by Ireland a second time.

Voting got off to a slow start yesterday with morning rain showers being blamed for the initial low turnout. One polling booth in Sligo did not see a single voter for the first two hours.

By lunchtime, the turnout in the six Dublin constituencies averaged 21%, while in the rest of the country, just 10% had come out to vote. But an increase was reported in the evening as the traditional “rush” of voters came to polling stations after work. President Mary McAleese was among the first to vote, casting her ballot with her husband Martin in St Mary’s Hospital in the Phoenix Park. Mr Cowen cast his vote at Mucklagh National School in Co Offaly. Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny voted in his home town of Castlebar in Mayo, while No campaigner Declan Ganley, of Libertas, voted at Briarfield National School near Moylough, Co Galway.