Icelanders refuse to foot bill for Icesave collapse

Icelanders on Saturday massively rejected a deal to pay Britain and the Netherlands billions for losses in the collapse of the Icesave bank, the government said after partial referendum results.
"Initial figures indicate clearly that the December amendment to the Icesave legislation of August 2009 will be repealed," the government said in a statement just minutes after polling stations closed at 2200 GMT.
Some 93.6 percent of voters cast ballots opposing the deal, partial results showed after 50 percent of ballots were counted, said RUV public broadcaster which compiles all electoral statistics.
Only 1.5 percent of voters had so far voted "yes" to the Icesave deal.
It remained unclear how many of Iceland's 230,000 eligible voters had cast their ballots Saturday, but an hour before polls closed the turnout rate stood at 54.45 percent, according to RUV.
Icelanders were asked to vote on whether the country should honour an agreement to repay Britain and the Netherlands 3.9 billion euros (5.3 billion dollars) by 2024.