LONDON—Millions of Britons began voting Thursday in a bitterly-fought, knife-edge referendum that could tear up the island nation’s EU membership and spark the greatest emergency of the bloc’s 60-year history.
A record 46.5 million voters have registered to decide Britain’s future in the 28-nation European Union, which was born out of a determination to unite in lasting peace after the carnage of two world wars.
Across much of southeast England, many voters braved torrential rain to have their say in a battle fought on two main fronts: immigration and the economy.
Experts have predicted a high turnout.
The once-in-a-generation referendum asks: “Should the United Kingdom remain a member of the European Union or leave the European Union?”
In one of the last opinion polls before the vote, “Remain” took a lead with 48 percent against “Leave” on 42 percent. The rest were undecided, according to the telephone survey by ComRes for the Daily Mail and ITV News.
Two other polls published on the eve of the referendum—both conducted over the Internet—had put the “Leave” camp ahead by one or two percentage points, well within the margin of error.
“Leave” advocates say a Britain cut loose from the EU will be able to rein in high levels of immigration and take back power from Brussels, while the “Remain” camp warns of a huge economic shock if Britain abandons the bloc.
World financial markets appeared to be banking on a “Remain” victory. In Tokyo trade, sterling briefly hit $1.4844—its highest level so far this year—while stock markets in London, Paris and Frankfurt climbed in early trade.
Financial institutions are reinforcing their trading teams to cope with the prospect of frantic trading through the day and the world’s leading central banks say they are ready to react to any eventuality.
With no exit polls taking place, the result is unlikely to begin emerging before about 0300 GMT Friday.
Using the hashtag #ivoted, some people posted mobile phone images of their completed ballot papers on Twitter. Election authorities had asked voters to refrain from taking selfies.
“Our polling station had a queue of people waiting to get in at 7 am—first time anyone can remember that on polling day,” voter Nick Turner in northwestern Cumbria said on Twitter.
Under clear skies in Glasgow, Scotland, people were waiting to cast a ballot.
“It would be silly to leave,” the first voter, Gemma Rosario, a 24-year-old office worker, told AFP. “Being in the EU is an advantage for Scotland.”