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Evaluation of the votes in Dublin
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Damien Storan/dpa
The referendum on rewriting a constitutional article on marriage and the role of women in the family in Ireland has failed.
Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said this in Dublin on Saturday.
The changes being voted on in Ireland should in future also include “long-term relationships” outside of marriage as a family and an outdated reference to the role of the “woman in the household” should be deleted.
Varadkar spoke in the Irish Times newspaper of a “clear defeat”.
The government is responsible for this and will “accept and fully respect the result.”
It was not possible to convince citizens of the necessity of the changes.
Maybe it was because of the wording.
Opponents of the proposals had previously argued that the concept of "lasting relationships" was inaccurate and confusing.
All major parties supported the change
Article 41 of the Irish constitution, which was put to the vote by almost 3.5 million voters on Friday, dates back to 1937. All major political parties in Ireland had supported the proposed changes.
In Ireland, which is predominantly Catholic, a two-thirds majority voted to legalize abortion in a referendum in 2018.
In 2015, the Irish voted to introduce marriage for same-sex couples.
kek/dpa