LONDON, (Reuters) – The government of the Falklands said today it would hold a referendum next year to “eliminate any possible doubt” about the islanders’ wishes to remain British in the face of Argentina’s sovereignty claims.
Britain and Argentina in 1982 went to war over the South Atlantic islands, and 30 years later tensions have escalated between the two nations.
“I have no doubt that the people of the Falklands wish for the islands to remain a self-governing Overseas Territory of the United Kingdom,” said Gavin Short, chairman of the Falklands Legislative Assembly.
“So we have decided, with the full support of the British Government, to hold a referendum on the Falkland Islands to eliminate any possible doubt about our wishes,” he added in a statement.
The vote is expected to take place in the first half of 2013.
Argentina’s President Cristina Fernandez has launched a wide-ranging diplomatic offensive to assert her country’s claims to the islands, known in Spanish as Las Malvinas. She accuses Britain of maintaining “colonial enclaves” and has called on London to open sovereignty talks.
The British government has consistently refused to discuss sovereignty so long as the 3,000 islanders want to stay British.
Prime Minister David Cameron said in a statement on Tuesday that it was “absolutely right that the islanders have today set out how they intend to make their voices heard once more”.
