More than 14,500 vote ahead of Iceland EU referendum

More than 14,500 people had voted outside polling stations by Friday ahead of Iceland’s referendum on whether to resume membership talks with the European Union, mbl.is reported.

Of those, 10,205 had voted through the District Commissioner for the capital area when Morgunbladid contacted the office on Sunday.

Ástríður Jóhannesdóttir, director of the National Electoral Commission, said she did not have an exact nationwide figure but confirmed that more than 14,500 people had voted by Friday. She described turnout as relatively high, given that nearly two weeks remained before the vote.

Voting outside polling stations also opened on the ground floor of Kringlan shopping centre on Monday.

“The service is being expanded to accommodate more people. Otherwise, I think people make the effort to vote outside a polling station if they need to, but wait until election day otherwise,” Ástríður said.