14 DAY TRIAL // Scots who were vying for the country’s independence from the United Kingdom haven’t come to terms with the results of last week’s vote. They’re now calling for the recounting of the votes, fearing that the referendum was rigged.
Over 90,000 people have already signed an online petition asking for the recounting of the votes. “We the undersigned demand a re-vote of the Scottish referendum, counted by impartial international parties,” reads the petition.
As many others before it, the petition is hosted by Change.org. They’re claiming that “Yes” votes were put into the “No” pile by design, but also that there’s enough evidence about election fraud. They’re even calling out Glasgow, where the votes were actually in favor of the independence.
“We demand a revote be taken of said referendum, where each vote shall be counted by two individuals, one of whom should be international impartial party without a stake in the vote,” they continue saying.
Official numbers give the win to the “No” camp by nearly 400,000 votes
According to the official count, 2,001,926 people voted “No” and 1,617,989 voted in favor for Scotland’s independence. The difference is quite steep and the number of votes that should have been faked is quite large.
There’s also the issue of the polls leading to the elections. Estimates indicated that the result would be closer to each other, even though the “No” camp was still to win according to those. Instead of the 52-48 percent people were expecting, last Thursday’s votes split 55.3 percent against and 44.7 percent in favor.
The outcome of the referendum has caused quite a bit of tension in Scotland. While supporters of the independence are calling for a recount and saying the vote was rigged, the “no” camp is telling the other group to get a grip and accept the result, as the International community has already done.
Alex Salmond, the First Minister of Scotland acknowledged the defeat and thanked the Scots that voted for independence.
“I accept that verdict of the people and I call on all of Scotland to follow suit in accepting the democratic verdict of the people of Scotland. I think all of us in this campaign will say that 45%, that 1.6 million votes, is a substantial vote for Scottish independence and the future of this country,” Salmond said.
For this referendum, the voting age was lowered to 16, opening the polls for a whole new age group that wasn’t able to vote until now.