Referendum Vote Too Close To Call; Pound Soars, Then Falls
Source: ASSOCIATED PRESS
LONDON (AP) -- Britain's referendum on whether to leave the European Union was too close to call early Friday, with increasingly mixed signals challenging earlier indications that "remain" had won a narrow victory.
The British pound soared after two leading supporters of the "leave" campaign said it appeared the pro-EU side had won, then plummeted as Britain's first few counting areas reported their results. The stage was set for a nerve-wracking night of ballot-counting after a day of high turnout and foul weather.
"It may be possible that the experts are going to have egg on their face later on tonight," University of Strathcylde political scientist John Curtice told the BBC after results from Newcastle showed worse-than-expected figures for pro-European vote. "It may be the first sign that the 'remain' side are not going to do as well as those early polls suggested."
The first results, from England's working-class northeast, were a smaller-than-expected "remain" win of 50.7 percent in Newcastle and a bigger-than-expecded "leave" vote of 61 percent in nearby Sunderland.
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