Referendum: 93% Kurds Vote For Independence from Iraq

Bethan McKernan

Almost 93 per cent of those who took part in the referendum on support for Kurdish independence from Iraq have voted to split from Baghdad, officials have said.

The results of Monday’s vote were announced on Wednesday evening by election officials in Irbil, the semi-autonomous Kurdish Regional Government (KRG)’s capital.

A total of 92.73 per cent said ‘yes’ in response to the question, “Do you want the Kurdistan Region and the Kurdistani areas outside the administration of the Region to become an independent state?”, head of the electoral commission Hendrin Mohammed told reporters.  Turn out had been high, with approximately 72 per cent of the 8.4 million strong population taking part.  Read full in the Independent