Voters in Iceland have overwhelmingly rejected proposals to pay the UK and the Netherlands in the wake of collapse¹ of the Icesave bank.

冰岛选民以压倒性的投票驳回了因冰储银行倒闭而赔偿英国和荷兰的提议。

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Some 230,000 Icelanders were eligible to vote on Saturday

With a third of results counted, 93% of voters said "No" in a referendum（公民投票，全民公决） .

Iceland's prime minister says her government will remain in office and continue to seek a repayment³ deal.

The British and Dutch governments want reimbursement⁴（退还，赔偿） for the 3.8bn euros (£3.4bn; $5.2bn) they paid out in compensation to customers in 2008.

Talks between Iceland, the UK and the Netherlands three countries broke down on Friday without agreement.

Prime Minister Johanna Sigurdardottir said she would not vote in Saturday's poll as her government was seeking to continue the negotiations⁵.

With a third of votes counted, 93% of Icelanders have voted "No", less than 2% back the deal, and the remaining votes are invalid⁶（无效的） .

Mrs Sigurdardottir said that her government would stay in office, despite the "No" results.

"This has no impact on the life of the government," she said.

"Now we need to get on with the task in front of us, namely to finish the negotiations with the Dutch and the British."

During voting on Saturday, hundreds of protesters outside parliament in the capital Reykjavik banged pots and waved banners reading "Icesave No! No! No!".

As results came in, Foreign Minister Ossur Skarphethinsson said talks with the UK and the Netherlands would continue, adding that the referendum result was good for his government's position.

"It certainly doesn't weaken our hand," Mr Skarphethinsson said.

Referendum defended

The government had hoped to avoid the vote by agreeing a new repayment plan before the weekend.

Mr Skarphethinsson told Reuters news agency he expected a new Icesave deal "in the next weeks, perhaps sooner".

Britain and the Netherlands want the money as repayment for bailing⁷ out customers in the Icesave online bank, which folded in 2008 due to the global financial meltdown.

President Grimsson rejected suggestions the vote was meaningless.

"It's not a pointless exercise because the referendum, according to our constitution, is on whether the deal which the British and the Dutch insisted on at the end of last year, should remain in force as a law in this country," he told the BBC.

"It is encouraging that in the last few weeks the British and the Dutch have acknowledged that that deal, on which the referendum takes place, is an unfair deal and that is by itself a tremendous achievement by the referendum... we will be able to continue the negotiations."

Many Icelanders believe the plan should be rejected because they feel they are being penalised（惩罚，处罚） for the mistakes of the banking⁸ industry.

"I will vote 'No' simply because I disagree very strongly with us... having to shoulder this burden," Ingimar Gudmundsson, a lorry driver（卡车司机） , told AFP news agency.

"We want to pay our debts but we want to do it without going bankrupt," Steinunn Ragnarsdottir, a pianist who voted in Reykjavik City Hall, told Reuters.