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DUBLIN, Ireland, Oct 19, 2002 (AP WorldStream via COMTEX) -- Supporters of European Union expansion took an early lead in Ireland's crucial referendum, the first official returns showed Saturday. Voters in six Dublin districts gave a resounding endorsement to the Union's plan to extend membership to the formerly communist states of the east. They represented less than a sixth of Ireland's total electorate, but provided heartening news to the government, which pushed hard for a "yes" vote. Final results were expected at about 6 p.m. (1700 GMT) Sunday. In one of the six reporting districts, 73 percent of voters...

Referendum: end of the vote in Ireland, first results awaited towards 23h00 Saturday October 19, 2002 - 21h03 GMT DUBLIN, Oct. 19 (AFP) - the polling stations closed Saturday with 21h00 local (20h00 GMT) in Ireland, where nearly three million voters had to decide for the second time on the treaty of Nice, whose adhesion depends on ten new countries to the European Union (UE). The poll had begun twelve hours earlier, with 08h00 GMT, in the 42 districts which account this country. The first results, in seven districts where the voters voted on a computer, are waited a...