Russian language loses referendum in Latvia
Upon results of counting votes at 2/3 of the polling stations, 77,22% of the plebiscite's participants voted against making the Russian language a state one.
This is much more than it was predicted by the public opinion polls conducted before. According to the preliminary calculations, 22,5% voters were "for". 1733 ballots were considered invalid, reports ВВС.
The voters' turnout surpassed the expectations and made 70,37%. The referendum was initiated by the Russian-speaking citizens of Latvia, who make about one third of the country's population.
In outline, the results were known beforehand. In order to make the necessary amendments in the Constitution of Latvia, more than 770 thousand of voters should vote for it. Alongside with that, a little more than 2 million people live in the country, about 60% of them are Latvians.
