Results
Voting on the referendum began on 9 January 2011. On 12 January, after three days of voting, representatives of the SPLA/M announced that, according to their estimates, the 60 percent turnout threshold required for the referendum's validity (corresponding to around 2.3 million voters) had been reached. Official confirmation came later the same day, when the referendum commission released a statement announcing that turnout would "exceed" the required 60 percent threshold. Jimmy Carter expressed his belief on 13 January that the referendum would likely meet international standards for both the conduct of the vote and freedom of voters. The United Nations reported that preliminary results would be expected by 2 February 2011, with final results expected within the following two weeks.
According to preliminary counts reviewed by the Associated Press, consisting of 30,000 ballots in 10 polling stations, the sample had a 95% turnout with 96% in favour of secession, 3% in favour of unity and the rest invalid. Mohamed Ibrahim Khalil, chairman of the referendum commission, said 83 percent of eligible voters in the south and 53 percent in the north had voted. The South Sudan Referendum Commission affirmed the validity of the vote, however the vote was still ongoing at the time.
As voting ended, Sudan again vowed to recognise the result.
| Southern Sudanese independence referendum, 2011 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Choice | Votes | Percentage |
| Yes | 3,792,518 | 98.83% |
| No | 44,888 | 1.17% |
| Valid votes | 3,837,406 | 99.62% |
| Invalid or blank votes | 14,588 | 0.38% |
| Total votes | 3,851,994 | 100.00% |
| Voter turnout | 97.58% | |
| Turnout required | 60.00% | |
Read more about this topic: Southern Sudanese Independence Referendum, 2011
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