Alberta does not want to leave Canada. Three-quarters of voters there voted against independence, dealing a major blow to separatists’ push for an independence referendum. Even so, the movement’s leaders have said they will carry on.
Most voters in the Canadian province of Alberta chose to stay with the country. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said Albertans had made a clear decision by rejecting the independence proposal.
“Alberta has chosen Canada,” he said. The vote asked whether Alberta should remain part of Canada or begin the process of holding a legally binding referendum on leaving it. By early counts, 1,300,707 of those counted voted to keep Alberta as a Canadian province.
On the other side, 414,591 voted on Monday to start the legal process of holding a binding referendum on independence under the constitution. More than 1.7 million votes were cast in all. The figures are based on returns from just over 70 percent of polling stations.
Preliminary results are due on Tuesday, and official results on Thursday. Although the camp for staying in Canada is well ahead, the separatists are claiming success. Lyse Doucet, the BBC’s chief international correspondent, wrote that while counting continued, victory for the camp favouring staying in Canada was largely clear.
The separatists say their movement will not stop. In Doucet’s analysis, a separatist movement that was once on the fringe has now made it onto the ballot, and it will go on arguing that Alberta must become independent for its demands to be met. Separatist leader Jeffrey Rath said their movement was not ending.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report