Iceland held a referendum to decide whether to resume accession negotiations with the European Union, which were interrupted in 2013 and frozen two years later. Voting began at the end of July and ended on a Saturday, August 29, at 10pm (midnight on the Spanish mainland).
The negotiations were suspended when 27 of the 33 chapters had been opened, although they did not include fisheries or agriculture, issues considered the most delicate in the process.
According to estimates from the public broadcaster RUV from mid-August, a narrow victory for yes was indicated, with 53% of the votes, although a high percentage of undecided voters persisted. In the final stretch, the percentage of yes supporters shrank to 51%.
The article notes that there are no serious forecasts on what the final outcome will be, and that the question of EU accession seems to worry Brussels more than the citizens of this volcanic island of just 397,000 inhabitants and 103,000 square kilometers.
