98.83% of votes support secession of southern Sudan

UP to 98.83 percent of votes cast in the southern Sudan referendum, which had been conducted earlier this month, supported a secession of the autonomous region from Sudan, according to preliminary results published by the Southern Sudan Referendum Commission today. According to the statistics at the southernsudan2011.com website, out of the totally 3,851,994 votes, 3,792,518 were for the secession and 44,888 or 1.17 percent were for the unity, while 6,222 were blanket votes, and 8,366 were invalid votes. The highest rate for the secession was witnessed in southern Sudan, where 3,697,467 votes, or 99.57 percent, were in favor of the secession while 16,129 votes, or 0.43 percent, were in favor of the unity. In north Sudan, where a majority of the population are Arab muslims, 38,003 votes, 57.65 percent, were in favor of the secession and 27,918 votes, or 42.35 percent, were in favor of the unity. In eight foreign countries where referendum were held among southern Sudanese citizens, 57,048 votes or 98.55 percent were for the secession and 841 or 1.45 percent were against it.