UPDATE - Mixed initial results as Brexit votes counted

INCLUDES RESULTS FROM FIRST 10 VOTING AREAS

LONDON (AA) – Neither side in Britain’s EU membership referendum had established a strong lead as the first results were announced early Friday.

With votes counted in the first 10 voting areas, the campaign to Leave the EU has a small lead of 304,913 over Remain with 287,727.

But the national outcome was far from certain with the vast majority of the country – 372 areas – yet to declare results and the winning side needing to secure approximately 16 million votes.

Gibraltar, the tiny British territory to the south of Spain, was the first area to declare, delivering a crushing 96 percent vote in favor of EU membership in Thursday’s referendum.

But the Remain camp was struck by weak results from the northeast of England, with the city of Newcastle only narrowly supporting EU membership and the nearby town of Sunderland voting by a 61 percent to 39 percent margin in favor of leaving the 28-nation bloc.

By 1 a.m. local time (0000GMT), voting districts in Northern Ireland and Scotland had produced strong results for Remain, while rural regions and small towns in England backed Leave.

The pound sterling plunged more than 5 cents against the dollar early Friday, suggesting investors are unnerved by the strong showing for Brexit in some areas.

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.”