JUBA, Sudan — Voters in southern Sudan began celebrating after the end of a week-long independence referendum Saturday, a poll that is widely expected to lead to the creation of the world’s newest country.
Officials and observers noted high turnout and praised the peaceful voting process.
Results began trickling in after polls closed Saturday evening. Almost everyone expects the south to vote overwhelmingly to break away from the north, cleaving one of Africa’s larger nations in two.
Officials and observers reported high voter turnout. U.N. Secretary- General Ban Ki-Moon praised voters for “the display of wisdom, patience and peaceful determination that has characterized the voting over the last week.”
Mohamed Ibrahim Khalil, chairman of the south’s referendum commission, said 83 percent of those registered in the south and 53 percent of those registered in the north had cast their votes. He also cited a 91 percent turnout rate among Sudanese voters in eight other countries.
Officials had said there were about 3.9 million registered voters. The Associated Press
