Northern Ireland has voted against proposals to change the mechanism for electing Westminster MPs.
Voters were asked if they wanted to change from the traditional first-past-the-post to the Alternative Vote (AV) method. The referendum was lost, but by one of the smallest margins in the whole the UK.
Some 372,706 people, roughly 56.3 per cent, had voted No, while 289,088, nearly 43.7 per cent had supported the move to AV.
The announcement was made at the Belfast count centre after 2am. The result in Britain was announced yesterday evening.
Unionists were largely against the switch from the usual method of electing MPs while the SDLP had called for a Yes vote.
Across Britain and Northern Ireland some 19.1 million people voted in what was only the second ever UK referendum. The last was in 1975 when the then Labour government held a vote on the UK remaining in what was then called the EEC.
Overall, there was a higher than expected turnout of 41 per cent. The final result put the Yes vote at 32.1per cent and the No vote at 67.9 per cent.
Northern Ireland voters last took part in a referendum in 1998 following the signing of the Belfast Agreement.