The DUP has expressed grave concern that the British government could attempt to tamper with ballot boxes after the poll for the Belfast Agreement closes tomorrow night.
The DUP leader, the Rev Ian Paisley, said he would not put it past the British government to "stuff the boxes" with Yes votes. "This government has stooped so low, it would stoop to anything to try to get a Yes vote," he said.
Tomorrow night ballot boxes from across Northern Ireland will be taken to regional count centres, where they will be opened and counted to establish turnout. They will then be put into larger boxes and moved to the main count centre at Balmoral, where all the votes will be counted on Saturday morning.
Dr Paisley expressed suspicion about the whole process and said that United Unionist agents would be present when the boxes were opened at the regional count centres. They would observe proceedings and then when the boxes were sealed, they would place their own seal on them.
The Election Officer, Mr Pat Bradley, said all political parties were entitled to fix their own seals on the ballot boxes.
Dr Paisley, who was speaking at a DUP press conference in east Belfast yesterday, described the third referendum campaign visit to the North by the British Prime Minister, Mr Blair, as "a last desperate throw of the dice by the desperate Yes campaign". Mr Blair's two previous visits had been flops, he said, and he predicted this one would be the same.
Dr Paisley said the No campaign was going "exceptionally well" and was winning more support every day. Mr Blair was constantly challenging opponents of the agreement to propose an alternative. The DUP leader said his party had produced an alternative but the British government was not interested in it. If Mr Blair was genuinely in favour of choice, then he would have offered an alternative to the agreement on the ballot paper, he said.
The DUP deputy leader, Mr Peter Robinson, challenged the British Prime Minister to meet the unionist MPs opposed to the deal but added, "I rather suspect Mr Blair, you haven't the guts to do it."
Mr Robinson said that after the votes were counted, Mr Blair would be forced to talk to the United Unionists who would then be in the driving seat of the political process, not republicans.
Dr Paisley said the Northern Ireland Office had ordered Department of the Environment officials to take down No posters in Coleraine, Co Derry, where Mr Blair visited last night. "They want the Prime Minister to see only Saatchi and Saatchi's Yes posters. It's reprehensible," he said.
He said the NIO would attempt to ensure that only "sanitised crowds" were present when Mr Blair went on walkabouts. The DUP also claimed civil servants had been issued with guidelines telling them they were not to act in any way which contradicted the NIO's position on the referendum and were not to attend No rallies.
An NIO spokeswoman denied the claim and said standard guidelines had been circulated among civil servants with particular reference to the referendum reminding them of the need for impartiality. The DUP secretary, Mr Nigel Dodds, accused foreign political leaders in favour of the deal of double standards in expecting unionists to work with Sinn Fein. Would President Clinton release the Oklahoma bomber, bring him to the negotiating table, and then invite his representatives into the US cabinet, he asked.
The DUP continued its criticism of media coverage of the referendum. Dr Paisley said journalists were "demonising" opponents of the agreement, including those who were victims of the troubles, and presenting them as anti-peace. "How dare the media say that to the widows and orphans who are voting No." He claimed the No campaign was being denied coverage, and singled out the News Letter as being particularly "biased". He said several leading advertisers with the News Letter were very unhappy with its coverage.
Dr Paisley also said the media had given massive coverage to clergy favouring the agreement but had virtually ignored a petition by 154 clergy from 10 Protestant denominations opposing it. He claimed there was no investigative journalism in the North and accused reporters of not investigating the amount of money the British government was spending on the referendum campaign and the role of big business in the Yes campaign. Dr Paisley said it would be interesting to see if these businesses received British government orders after the election.