Falklands vote to stay British

March 12th, 2013 at 4:06 pm by David Farrar

The results of the Falkland Islands referendum are just in. The question was:

Do you wish the Falkland Islands to retain their current political status as an Overseas Territory of the United Kingdom?

There are 1,672 adults eligible to vote. 1,517 votes were cast which is a 90.73% turnout.

There was one invalid vote. Excluding that there were 1,513 yes votes and three no votes. That is a yes vote percentage of 99.80%.

The Argentinian claim to the islands is flimsy – their period of sovereignty was a total of two months – from December 1832 to January 1833. It is also worth noting that on three occasions the UK offered to take the dispute to mediation with the International Court of Justice. Argentina has declined every time.

The right to self-determination is the key issue for me. The residents are mainly descended from families who have lived there since the 1830s. This is their home, and their only home. Their wishes must remain paramount.

Tags: Falklands

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 12th, 2013 at 4:06 pm and is filed under International Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

36 Responses to “Falklands vote to stay British”

Manolo (9,948) Says:
March 12th, 2013 at 4:09 pm
The Argies can fuck themselves!
Vote: 10 2 You need to be logged in to vote
103PapPap (105) Says:
March 12th, 2013 at 4:17 pm
What is the correct date “their period of sovereignty was a total of two months – from December 1983 to January 1833″
Vote: 0 0 You need to be logged in to vote
MikeMan (171) Says:
March 12th, 2013 at 4:22 pm
Nov 1832 to Jan 1833.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reassertion_of_British_sovereignty_over_the_Falkland_Islands_(1833)
Vote: 2 0 You need to be logged in to vote
gump (659) Says:
March 12th, 2013 at 4:31 pm
@DPF

The right to self-determination is the key issue for me. The residents are mainly descended from families who have lived there since the 1830s. This is their home, and their only home. Their wishes must remain paramount.

——————–

What is the right to self-determination?

The British Government forcibly expelled the entire population of inhabitants of the Chagos Islands between 1967 to 1973 so that a joint UK-US military base could be established in the Indian Ocean.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Depopulation_of_Diego_Garcia
Vote: 5 1 You need to be logged in to vote
iMP (1,322) Says:
March 12th, 2013 at 4:44 pm
Possession is nine-tenths of the law, in this case 99.8%
Vote: 4 0 You need to be logged in to vote
ross69 (2,397) Says:
March 12th, 2013 at 4:50 pm
Interesting that you agree with the outcome of a referendum. No doubt you will support the referendum on asset sales.

[DPF: No, and do you think the anti-smacking law should be repealed?

Referendums should be binding on constitutional and electoral matters. Not economic policy issues]
Vote: 0 13 You need to be logged in to vote
ross69 (2,397) Says:
March 12th, 2013 at 4:52 pm
This is their home, and their only home. Their wishes must remain paramount.

Why does the UK pay tens of millions of dollars to prop up the island? Do you think residents should rely on handouts from elsewhere?
Vote: 1 12 You need to be logged in to vote
David Farrar (1,741) Says:
March 12th, 2013 at 4:58 pm
Almost every country on earth subsidises those who live in more rural areas. NZ pays millions of dollars propping up Tokelau and Niue.

If you tell me you think NZ should cut off all funding to Niue and Tokelau, then I might take you seriously on the Falklands. It is obvious you are just desperate for reasons to advocate against the UK.
Vote: 14 0 You need to be logged in to vote
ross69 (2,397) Says:
March 12th, 2013 at 5:01 pm
The cost to the defence budget will be £61m in 2012-13, which is expected to increase by £2m a year. That is more than £20,000 per islander, but is only part of the cost. It does not include accommodation, electricity and fuel, or various items tucked away under disparate budget headings.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/diary/diary-so-what-is-the-real-cost-of-defending-the-falkland-islands-6896566.html

I never thought the Right would be so happy to see taxpapyers’ money spent so inefficiently.
Vote: 2 10 You need to be logged in to vote
wat dabney (2,703) Says:
March 12th, 2013 at 5:04 pm
How is it inefficient?

Expensive perhaps, but inefficient?
Vote: 9 1 You need to be logged in to vote
Bob R (1,040) Says:
March 12th, 2013 at 5:06 pm
It’s curious that the Obama Administration is all for self determination by people in the Middle East, but apparently not when it comes to the Falklands. Is that due to some ideological aversion to the concept of self determination applying for Europeans?
Vote: 11 0 You need to be logged in to vote
wat dabney (2,703) Says:
March 12th, 2013 at 5:08 pm
Obama has a huge chip on his shoulder about Britain.

He is a small man.
Vote: 11 0 You need to be logged in to vote
PaulL (5,197) Says:
March 12th, 2013 at 5:30 pm
ross69: presumably an alternative would be for Argentina to give up their claims, which would also save that same defence expenditure.

Are you saying that when a portion of a countries territory are threatened by an external aggressor that the country should make a cost benefit decision on whether it’s worth defending that portion of their territory?
Vote: 10 0 You need to be logged in to vote
tvb (3,314) Says:
March 12th, 2013 at 5:40 pm
This so called sovereign territory costs a bomb to defend. There had better be oil down there because frankly the British taxpayer cannot sustain the diversion of resources. The wishes of the residents cannot be paramount if a hard headed approach is being taken.
Vote: 1 5 You need to be logged in to vote
James Stephenson (1,476) Says:
March 12th, 2013 at 5:53 pm
This so called sovereign territory costs a bomb to defend.

Depends how you choose to look at it. The British armed forces are no bigger overall because of the need to defend the Falklands, so the incremental cost to maintain the presence down there rather than the forces elsewhere is not that big. Probably pays for itself in the increased value of the real-ness of the situation versus ordinary training.
Vote: 7 0 You need to be logged in to vote
Mark1 (48) Says:
March 12th, 2013 at 6:08 pm
David the plural of referendum is referenda.
Vote: 2 1 You need to be logged in to vote
Cato (586) Says:
March 12th, 2013 at 6:20 pm
@DPF “Referendums should be binding on constitutional and electoral matters. Not economic policy issues.”

A V Dicey would have approved of that sentiment.
Vote: 0 0 You need to be logged in to vote
Rodders (1,790) Says:
March 12th, 2013 at 6:43 pm
three no votes

Did any of them put “..eh..?” on their ballot paper?
Vote: 0 0 You need to be logged in to vote
Fentex (205) Says:
March 12th, 2013 at 6:51 pm
Seems to me the Malvinas have a right to choose Blighty over Argentina but I don’t find the proposition that self determination is a simple and obvious delineator on the matter entirely satisfactory.

As a matter of curiosity, what delineates groups who get to choose self determination?

Can I do it, swear allegiance to my cat and refuse to pay taxes in New Zealand?

What about my street? My city? My island? What about Waiheki? Do those who accept this self determination thing have a problem with Waiheki declaring itself a tax haven and independent of New Zealand? Could be a good earner for them.

Or as the census I just filled out seems to think is important, my race, er, ethnic grouping?
Vote: 0 3 You need to be logged in to vote
thedavincimode (4,707) Says:
March 12th, 2013 at 6:54 pm
Ah, the pull of the monarchy. It’s Kate & Wills wot dunnit.

Imagine living in a place where only 0.2% of the voting population are idiots.

ross69

I wouldn’t get too concerned about the cost given that the oil reserves are worth about a gazillion bucks, but I’m impressed that a died in the wool pinko such as yourself is actually now demonstrating some concern about the expenditure of taxpayer money. Where were you between 1999 and 2008? We needed you.
Vote: 7 0 You need to be logged in to vote
dog_eat_dog (596) Says:
March 12th, 2013 at 7:13 pm
If it means Waiheke has to pay for its own transport, ferries and rubbish collection, then go right ahead. Let’s see how eco-tastic you are when you can only afford to float here on a car door and the rest of the country decides to charge a customs fee.
Vote: 4 0 You need to be logged in to vote
SJM(1) Says:
March 12th, 2013 at 7:38 pm
Gump: regarding Deigo Garcia. Yes it is unforgivable that the inhabitants were evicted from their home, but as this thread is about the Falklands, do you think this fate should be visited on the inhabitants of the Falklands? I dont think two wrongs make a right, do you?

Ross69: To ask peoples of the Falklands, or anywhere else, to give up their sovreingty, or remove it against their wishes on the basis of profit or loss, is pretty immoral.
Which of course is a good reason for the UK to exit the EU.
Vote: 3 0 You need to be logged in to vote
Johnboy (10,755) Says:
March 12th, 2013 at 7:58 pm
If I was a Falkland Islander I’d vote like they did.

I couldn’t see a situation where I got tossed out of a helicopter if Harry or Willie was the pilot!

I could see one if Don Diego Arseholo was doing the flying!
Vote: 1 0 You need to be logged in to vote
ross69 (2,397) Says:
March 12th, 2013 at 8:41 pm
If you tell me you think NZ should cut off all funding to Niue and Tokelau, then I might take you seriously on the Falklands. It is obvious you are just desperate for reasons to advocate against the UK.

Actually, we shouldn’t be funding Niue or Tokelau to the extent we are. Just a couple of years ago the Foreign Affairs Committee, in its report to Parliament, was critical of NZ’s aid to Niue. John Hayes suggested that aid be cut.

“We are deeply concerned that [aid] expenditure on Niue over 40 years has yielded almost no return”.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/4458567/Pack-old-folks-off-to-Niue-and-cut-aid-say-MPs
Vote: 2 1 You need to be logged in to vote
CharlieBrown (688) Says:
March 12th, 2013 at 9:25 pm
“This is their home, and their only home. Their wishes must remain paramount.” – Did you support Wellington changing the name of Wanganui despite the huge majority of Wanganui residents not wanting the name changed?
Vote: 3 0 You need to be logged in to vote
Michael (705) Says:
March 12th, 2013 at 9:29 pm
Is Argentina ready to hand the Patagonian desert it “conquered” in the 1870s (like 40 years after the British occupied the Falklands) back to the local Patagonian tribes? Terra nullius only applies for Kirchner when it suits.
Vote: 4 0 You need to be logged in to vote
Ross Nixon (533) Says:
March 12th, 2013 at 9:33 pm
Wanganui now has two names. You can spell it Wanganui or Whanganui. Both are valid.
Vote: 0 4 You need to be logged in to vote
CharlieBrown (688) Says:
March 12th, 2013 at 9:52 pm
Crown agencies use the Whanganui spelling. That means that Tourism NZ and Transit must use the spelling that a few noisey maori dictated to the rest of Wanagnui. If John Jey the fucker was pm of the UK then the Falklands would probably be transitioning to Argentina… but at least their residents would be allowed back home so no-one misses out.
Vote: 3 2 You need to be logged in to vote
kowtow (4,449) Says:
March 12th, 2013 at 10:18 pm
Nice for them to get a referendum to determine their own future when the unfortunates of Britain don’t get the same privelige off their own govt,who seem hell bent on destroying the British identity.
Vote: 7 0 You need to be logged in to vote
Dave Mann (988) Says:
March 12th, 2013 at 10:45 pm
The Falklanders can count themselves very lucky that they don’t have maoris there trying to take their land off them. I reckon if they did the poms would drop them like a hot brick and let them take their chances under Argentina.
Vote: 4 1 You need to be logged in to vote
Gulag1917 (152) Says:
March 13th, 2013 at 2:10 am
Argentinians use a reason because the Falkland Islands is closer to Argentina than Britain it belongs to Argentina. With a reason like that not surprising they lost a war and have lost the peace.
Vote: 3 0 You need to be logged in to vote
expat (3,980) Says:
March 13th, 2013 at 5:57 am
Bet the argies support same sex marriage
Vote: 1 1 You need to be logged in to vote
big bruv (11,207) Says:
March 13th, 2013 at 7:00 am
These Falkland folk are a bit thick really. All they had to do was decalre themselves to be the tangata whenua and they could do what they liked for ever and a day.

Not only that, but a bunch of other people would be forced to hand over billions to them for nothing at all in return.
Vote: 3 1 You need to be logged in to vote
Dave Mann (988) Says:
March 13th, 2013 at 9:27 am
Actually I used to live in Argentina and I really like the country and the people (although I disagree with their claim on the Falklands).

I was back there just a couple of years ago and one of the saddest things I saw in Buenos Aires was a bedraggled and ragged encampment of Malvinas veterans on the main square right in front of the presidential palace. They have been living there for years protesting about lack of pension recognition by their government. it was so sad, somehow.

I might be wrong (i.e. I might have been talking to the wrong people), but the feeling I got was not one of great animosity towards Britain… more of a regret and feeling of sadness and loss that they were drawn into a hopeless stupid war by their military government for the sake of boosting it’s support under the guise of patriotism.
Vote: 3 0 You need to be logged in to vote
Fairfacts Media (344) Says:
March 13th, 2013 at 11:08 am
Hopefully, with the Falkland Islands future more secure, the Obamination can practice getting the name right.
The idiot once called them the Maldives!
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2131359/Barack-Obama-makes-Falklands-gaffe-calling-Malvinas-Maldives.html
Vote: 2 0 You need to be logged in to vote
Tom Jackson (589) Says:
March 13th, 2013 at 4:47 pm
Cristina Kirchner used to be smokin’ hot back in the day.

Some experts still think so

http://wodumedia.com/silvio-berlusconi-rare-photos/berlusconis-reputation-for-admiring-women-appears-to-be-confirmed-as-he-eyes-up-argentinas-president-cristina-fernandez-de-kirchner-during-the-g20-summit-in-cannes-in-november-2011/

There’s pics of Sarkozy hitting on her as well.
Vote: 0 0 You need to be logged in to vote

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Kiwiblog