Polls close in Iceland's vote on reopening EU talks
Polling stations have closed across Iceland in a nationwide referendum on whether to reopen accession talks with the European Union, moving the Nordic country from voting to counting.
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Polls shut at 22:00 local time on Saturday, RÚV reported. The official notice says the ballot asked whether the government should resume negotiations with the aim of joining the EU. The vote is advisory, not a decision to join the bloc.
If Yes prevails, the government can seek to restart talks that have been on hold since 2013. The government has said any completed membership agreement would face a second referendum.
Iceland already belongs to the European Economic Area and Schengen, giving it access to the single market while keeping it outside the EU's decision-making institutions. The European Commission says 27 of 35 negotiating chapters had opened and 11 were provisionally closed when talks stopped.
Counting began after polls closed. The final result will show whether the government has public backing to reopen a process frozen for more than a decade.
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