Scottish Independence Referendum Campaigns Given Final Push
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - Both campaigns were given a final push at the last weekend ahead of next Thursday's Scottish independence referendum.
A grand pro-union parade stirred great enthusiasm in Edinburgh with more than 10,000 participants from the Orange Order group across Britain in support of the Union.
Bolstered by support from Northern Ireland and Scotland, the parade started from the Meadows, marched through Royal mile, the Holyrood Scottish parliament and down to the Regent road in Edinburgh.
It attracted many watchers waving signs of the Scottish flag and the British national flag along the two sides of the streets, while the police were maintaining the order and security.
The Order's campaign group British Together was registered with the British Electoral Commission as a permitted participant, and the parade participants included juniors and elders with some on wheelchairs, calling for a No vote in the Referendum.
More for the No camp, former prime minister Gordon Brown was campaigning voters in eastern Scotland.
Meanwhile, the Yes Scotland was promising what it called the biggest day of campaigning ever seen in Scotland, with some 2.6 million leaflets being delivered to households in 48 hours.
Scottish Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, who was campaigning in Glasgow, said momentum was still with the Yes campaign.
Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond arrived in Dundee in central Scotland by helicopter on the latest leg of his Yes campaign.
Polls showed the vote on Scottish independence will be "on a knife edge" or "neck and neck", while the turnout was predicted to be 88 percent, Xinhua reported.
About 97 percent of Scots signed up to vote as the independence referendum is set to be the biggest poll in Scotland's history, with more people registered to vote than ever before.
The total number of people who have registered for next Thursday's referendum is about 4.29 million, more than for any previous election or referendum in Scotland, according to the vote's "chief counting officer".
In October 2012, British Prime Minister David Cameron and Salmond signed the Edinburgh Agreement, allowing Scotland to hold an independence referendum in autumn 2014 on the question of "Should Scotland be an independent country?"
