Turnout of the Augustów bypass regional referendum conducted yesterday was 21.56 percent. The referendum is not valid because the turnout did not reach the 30% threshold - says the Regional Referendum Committee in Białystok.

Gazeta.pl reports that out of all the districts in the Podlaskie region, the said threshold was only just exceeded in the Augustów district with the turnout of 34.35 percent of the eligible voters.

The turnout in Białystok was 25.81 percent. The inhabitants of Łomża were the least interested in the referendum, where the turnout amounted to 13.02 percent.

14.78 percent of the eligible voters in the Łomża district, 15.89 percent in the Kolno district and 18.83 percent in the Suwałki district cast their votes.

In the entire Podlaskie region, more than 204.7 thousand out of nearly 950 thousand eligible voters took part in the referendum.

More than 92 percent of the valid votes were cast for the construction of the Augustów bypass in its present variant, i.e. cutting through the environmentally precious Rospuda River valley.

The referendum was held at the initiative of Law and Justice (PiS) whose motion in this respect was signed by almost 51 thousand inhabitants of the region.

The inhabitants of the region said "yes" or "no" to a single question, which was as follows: "Are you for the maintenance of the location of the Augustów bypass road along the S8 national road, as defined in the Land Development Plan for the Podlaskie Region passed by Resolution IX/80/03 of the Local Government of the Podlaskie Region on 27 June 2003, in accordance with the design approved by the Governor of the Podlaskie Region Governor?"

The Augustów bypass referendum was the first regional referendum held in Poland since 1999, when regional governments were elected for the first time.(mj