Mixed initial results as Brexit votes counted

LONDON (AA) – Initial results from Britain’s EU referendum vote appear to confirm opinion poll suggestions that the outcome would be extremely narrow.

Gibraltar, the tiny British territory to the south of Spain, delivered a crushing 96 percent vote in favor of EU membership in the first declaration from Thursday’s vote.

But a result from Newcastle – announced minutes after Gibraltar – put the Leave campaign on 50.7 percent with Remain at 49.3 percent, suggesting a conclusive result was still several hours away.

Gibraltar, which shares only a short land border with Spain, was the first counting area to report a result because its polling stations closed an hour earlier as it is in a different time zone from the rest of the U.K.

A total of 19,322 voters – representing 96 percent of those who cast a ballot – opted to remain in the EU while just 823 voters, or 4 percent, voted to leave.

The territory was expected to deliver a strong Remain vote, but turnout at 83.7 percent was higher than parliamentarian elections in the territory, hinting at a stronger turnout elsewhere in Britain.

Newcastle, a city that has strong ties to the European Union and has received a lot of funding from the bloc’s institutions, was also expected to strongly support EU membership.

In all, 65,404 voters backed Remain with 63,598 supporting Leave – a margin of less than 2,000 votes.

In the only other result to declare early Friday morning, the northeastern Scottish archipelago of Orkney backed Remain by 63 percent, with 37 percent voting to leave the EU.

Speaking Thursday night, U.K. Independence Party leader Nigel Farage – a prominent Brexit campaigner – predicted a narrow win for the Remain.

He told supporters at a campaign party in London that a computer glitch that extended the voter registration deadline by 48 hours earlier in June would be “maybe what tips the balance.”

He added: “Win or lose this battle, we will win this war. We will get this country back, we will get our independence back and we will get our borders back.”