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Scottish referendum

Bernd Riegert, Edinburgh / smsSeptember 17, 2014

Passions are running high as Scots prepare to decide whether to remain a part of the UK. With polls too close to call ahead of the referendum, each side says it's confident undecided voters will rally to their cause.

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John Patterson photo: Bernd Riegert, DW
Image: DW/Bernd Riegert

He looks just like many would imagine the typical Scot. Kilt, knee-high socks, bagpipes and a solid build. People stand and clap when John Patterson plays Highland melodies near Edinburgh Castle. In the emotional question of Scottish independence, Patterson has answered questions for one local TV station after another. "There is a lot of tension in the air," he said. "People want to see emotions."

He added that he doesn't have a firm view on Scottish independence. But - as a New Zealander - he's not allowed to vote anyway, and instead chuckles with amusement when people regard him as a typical Scot. After all, he said, there are only two types of people: "Scots and the people who wish they were Scots."

Audry Sainsarnualt and Abigayle Sainsarnualt Photo: Bernd Riegert, DW
Sainsarnualt said she was familiar with independence movements from CanadaImage: DW/Bernd Riegert

Audry Painsarnault came to Scotland with her husband and four children to hang up "no" posters and stickers around the city and to try and convince people to keep Scotland in the United Kingdom. Like Patterson, she won't be able to vote in Thursday's referendum. "My husband has Scottish ancestry so we decided if we could do some small part in all this then we would," she said. "We came with our four children to help. We want to convince people to vote - no matter what their opinions are." She added that in Canada there is a similar movement for independence among French-speaking Canadians in Quebec.

Alex Salmond, Scotland's first minister and head of the Scottish National Party, laid out a clear definition. Anyone who lives in Scotland is a Scot and can vote on the question of whether to leave the United Kingdom after more than 300 years and become an independent nation. The three latest polls show the "yes" and "no" camps nearly neck-and-neck with those opposed to independence leading with 52 percent to 48 percent, though the polls do not take the eight percent of undecided voters into account.

Ben Walker Photo: Bernd Riegert, DW
Walker said he wishes Scots outside Scotland also had a voteImage: DW/Bernd Riegert

Ben Walker is a businessman from London who said he sees himself as a Scot and wants his home to stay in the UK with England, Wales and Northern Ireland. He regrets that he, like 800,000 other Scots living outside of Scotland, does not have a vote. "All Scots who live in England are not, under the terms of the referendum, allowed to vote." Walker said. "I would become a foreigner without having a say on it."

Campaigning in the final days leading up to the referendum has heated up, with Scottish nationalists saying they wanted to free themselves from oppression and dismissing offers of more regional autonomy as untrustworthy. Unionists then accused the nationalists of lying. Pro-British Labour Party leader Ed Miliband was even attacked during a campaign event in Edinburgh. The British tabloid press managed to dig out a few final scandals. The Scottish Daily Mail accused Salmond of megalomania for proposing that a new position be created after independence.

Claims that Scots were about to take their fate in their hands at the ballot box were made by both sides on the final day of campaigning.

"I think the emotional side is nice - I'm a Scot, I was educated here," he said. "I care quite passionately about my country. But I think from the rational side it is something we cannot afford. We are wandering into an abyss and I think we are going to be much worse off."

The economic effects would be disastrous, he said, adding: "Why would you break up one of the most successful states? The UK is not perfect, and it has the same problems as Germany or France or America or any Western democracy and independence and rampant nationalism isn't the way to solve that."

Rachel Blair Photo: Bernd Riegert, DW
Blair said she thinks the 'yes' camp will win with a narrow majorityImage: DW/Bernd Riegert

A few blocks further down the streets at the "Yes" campaign office, Rachel Blair has a different take. She said Scotland's oil reserves would bolster the country's economy.

"At the moment we have a government in London that people in Scotland feel quite disconnected from," she said. "We need a government that is closer to home and more accountable to the Scottish people. I think we have got a lot of problems here. We have one in five children in poverty, families queuing up at food banks. We need to be in control of our own resources to address these issues."

Those for and against independence disagree on whether Scotland would remain in the European Union and keep the pound as its currency. But charges that Scotland would be left on its own are just fear-mongering, Blair said.

A number of trade and industry groups have warned against independence. Unions are split on the issue. The British monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, spends her summers in Scotland but has not taken a clear position on the referendum, saying only that the voters should consider the consequences of their choice. Regardless of the poll's outcome, most nationalists say they want the queen to remain their head of state.

Polls will close at 10 pm local time and results from the vote are expected in the early hours of Friday. Some pubs in Edinburgh have had closing times lifted so people can congregate and hear the results. Some nationalists have even already setup a border checkpoint between Scotland and England - one that looked so real some drivers actually stopped and handed over their papers.

"I'm not for or against independence, " Jon Parker Lee of Manchester said after passing the faux-checkpoint. "I just want everyone to have a good laugh."