Voting closes in Iceland’s knife-edge EU referendum

Polling stations in Iceland closed on Saturday at 10pm local time, with vote counting underway and results expected overnight. The referendum asked voters whether to resume EU accession negotiations, which had been frozen since 2013.

The turnout appeared to be as high as in the 2024 parliamentary elections, according to Euronews. The outcome of the vote is too close to call, with a Gallup poll on Friday suggesting a narrow majority opposed reopening negotiations, as reported by the Jerusalem Post.

The campaign focused on issues such as the cost of living, security, sovereignty, and control over fishing waters. If voters choose to resume talks, it would only open the way to discussions with Brussels, with a second referendum on EU membership likely to be held several years later.

Brief written by urgent.news from Euronews, Jerusalem Post — 2 reports on this story. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.