Ireland votes for change; legalises abortion

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Dublin: Thousands of people in Ireland voted for a change in the Constitution on Friday, in order to legalise abortion in a Catholic-dominated republic. With a high turnout of 64.13 percent in total; 1,429,98, or 66.4 percent, voted for the amendment and 723,632, or 33.6 percent, against, according to the country's Referendum Commission, CNN reported.

The results, which were announced on Saturday, defied earlier projections which said that it would be a tight race.

Further, only one county voted no -- the rural and religiously conservative Donegal in the northwest region.

"Today is a historic day for Ireland. A quiet revolution has taken place, and today is a great act of democracy," CNN quoted Leo Varadkar, the Prime Minister, or Taoiseach as the office is called in Ireland, as saying.

"A hundred years since women gained the right to vote, today we as a people have spoken. And we say that we trust women and respect women to make their own decisions and their own choices," he added.

Meanwhile, chants of "Yes we did" rose from the crowd as the Referendum Commission's Returning Officer Barry Ryan announced the final results.

The Eighth Amendment, which was added to the Ireland Constitution following a referendum in 1983, had banned abortion in the country unless there was a "real and substantial risk" to the mother's life.

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