EDINBURGH, Scotland – Will the ayes have it, or will Scotland say, naw thanks?
No one is certain. Excitement and anxiety mounted across the country Wednesday, the final day of campaigning before today’s referendum on independence.
With opinion polls suggesting the result is too close to call and turnout expected to reach record levels, supporters of separation feel they are within touching distance of victory – but wonder whether their surge in the polls will be enough.
Scottish voters who want to stay in the United Kingdom along with England, Wales and Northern Ireland fear the nation they live in may soon cease to exist.
The battle for Scotland has all the trappings of a normal election campaign: “Yes Scotland” and “No, Thanks” posters in windows, buttons on jackets, leaflets on street corners and megaphone-topped campaign cars cruising the streets.
But it is, both sides acknowledge, a once-in-a-generation – maybe once-in-a-lifetime – choice that could redraw the map of the United Kingdom.
The gravity of the imminent decision was hitting home for many voters as political leaders made passionate, final pleas for their sides. More than 4.2 million people are registered to vote, 97 percent of the eligible electorate.
Cathy Chance, who works for Britain’s National Health Service in Edinburgh, the Scottish capital, said she would leave Scotland if it becomes independent.
“I don’t want to live under a nation that’s nationalistic,” she said. “I don’t think the world needs another political barrier.”
Opinion polls have failed to put either side decisively ahead. Bookmakers, however, tell a different story. A winning 1 pound bet on Yes would pay out 5 pounds from many bookies, while the same pound would return just 1.20 from a winning wager on No.
One firm, Betfair, has already paid out on a No win.
Alistair Darling, who leads the anti-independence “Better Together” campaign, said if voters had doubts about independence “be in no doubt you have to say ‘No.”’
“If we vote to leave, there is no going back,” he said.
But “Yes Scotland” campaign Chairman Dennis Canavan told voters: “Let’s go for it.”Amid the uncertainty, even the opinionated Rupert Murdoch is hedging his bets. The media mogul, whose newspapers were long considered a powerful force in British elections, traveled to Scotland last week and wrote a series of tweets that seemed supportive of independence.
But on Wednesday his Scottish tabloid newspaper said it would not endorse either side. It ran opinion columns by Yes and No leaders and told Scots: “The Scottish Sun has faith in you to make the right choice.”
A Yes vote will trigger months of negotiations between Scotland and the British government over the messy details of independence, which Scottish authorities say will take effect on March 24, 2016, the anniversary of the date in 1707 that Scotland decided to unite with Britain.
In Edinburgh, an unscientific but popular sweet-toothed survey has backed pollsters’ predictions that the result will be close. For 200 days, the city’s Cuckoo Bakery has sold referendum cupcakes – vanilla sponge with a center of raspberry jam, topped with white chocolate icing – in three versions, adorned with a Scottish Saltire, a British Union Jack or a question mark.
On Wednesday, the bakery announced the result of its cupcake referendum: 47.7 percent No, 43.5 percent Yes, and 8.8 percent undecided.
Co-owner Vidya Sarjoo said the number of undecideds had plummeted over time.
“At first people really weren’t sure – a bit scared, maybe, to make their decision,” she said.
The cupcakes, she stressed, “are all exactly the same flavor. And they all taste delicious.”
Associated Press Writer Pan Pylas contributed to this report.
