Aboriginal Australians make up 3.8 percent of the country's 26 million population. Photo: TRACEY NEARMY/REUTERS
In Australia, a large majority is expected to reject a proposal to recognize Indigenous peoples in the constitution, a major setback to the country's efforts to reconcile with its First Peoples.
Australian broadcaster ABC predicts that three states — New South Wales, Tasmania and South Australia — would vote «No».
A successful referendum requires at least four of the six states to vote in favor, as well as a national majority.
Australians had to write «Yes» or «No» on a ballot paper asking whether they agreed to change the 122-year-old constitution to recognize Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, and create an Indigenous body called the Voice of Parliament, which could advise the Government on Indigenous issues.
Nationwide, with 20.2 per cent of the vote counted, the No campaign led to the Yes vote by 55.1 per cent to 44.9 per cent.
Australia's Aboriginal citizens, who make up 3.8 percent of the country's 26 million population, have inhabited the land for some 60,000 years but are not mentioned in the constitution and are by most socio-economic indicators the most disadvantaged people in the country.< /p>
Referendums are difficult to hold in Australia: since the country was founded in 1901, only eight out of 44 have been successful. This is the first referendum in Australia in almost a quarter of a century. Australian voters rejected the 1999 proposal to create a republic.
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