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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Monday, June 09, 2003

Poles Vote 'Yes' for EU Membership

Poles voted overwhelmingly for the country to join the European Union (EU) in a weekend referendum, making it the sixth of the 10 member-designate countries backing EU entry.


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Poles voted overwhelmingly for the country to join the European Union (EU) in a weekend referendum, making it the sixth of the 10 member-designate countries backing EU entry.

Early results showed that 78 percent in total voted "yes" for EU membership with reports from 50 percent of the 25,000 polling stations across the country.

Under the amended electoral law, Poland's access to the EU needs the approval of more than half of the 29.8 million eligible voters.

Turnout surged to 59.6 percent on Sunday after a disappointing 17.9 percent of voters casting ballots Saturday, the first day of the referendum.

"We are coming back to Europe," Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski told a cheering crowd at the presidential palace.

Poland will be the largest country to join the EU next year following votes in favor of joining the 15-member bloc in Malta, Slovenia, Hungary, Lithuania and Slovakia.

The Czech Republic is set to vote next week followed by Latvia and Estonia in September. Cyprus is leaving the decision to the parliament.

Poland, along with nine other central and east European countries, signed an agreement with the EU in December 2002 on entry into the regional bloc on May 1, 2004.


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