REYKJAVIK (AFP) - A full 93.3 percent of Icelandic voters rejected a deal to pay billions to Britain and the Netherlands for the collapse of an Icelandic bank, according to official referendum results Sunday after 90 percent of ballots had been counted.

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Only 1.7 percent of counted ballots were in favour of the deal, while the remaining votes were, according to the RUV public broadcaster which compiles all electoral statistics.

It remained unclear how many of Iceland's 230,000 eligible voters had cast their ballots in Saturday's referendum, but an hour before polls closed the turnout rate stood at 54.5 percent, according to RUV, and was believed to have passed the 60-percent mark by closing.

Compared to Iceland's general elections last April, when around 85 percent of eligible voters cast a ballot, the turnout rate for the country's first referendum since independence from Denmark in 1944 could be considered weak.

Final results, including an official participation rate, were not expected until around midday Sunday, as it was difficult to count ballots in several areas isolated by bad weather.

The rejected deal provided for paying Britain and the Netherlands 3.9 billion euros (5.3 billion dollars) by 2024 to compensate them for money they paid to 340,000 of their citizens hit by the collapse of the online Icesave bank in 2008.

Last Updated (Sunday, 07 March 2010 17:55)

 
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