EU treaty in peril as Ireland counts votes

By Paul Hoskins

DUBLIN (Reuters) - The fate of the European Union's Lisbon treaty was in peril on Friday, with results due from an Irish referendum after a weak turnout left the outcome in doubt.

Irish voters were the only citizens in the 27-member bloc to be given the chance to vote in a referendum on the treaty, which replaces a rejected European Union constitution.

"It's knife-edge stuff," an Irish governing party source said, acknowledging that authorities had counted on a higher turnout. "We're just not sure if we've done enough or not."

The entire project could be doomed if Irish voters reject it. European governments say there is no "plan B".

French Prime Minister Francois Fillon said in a television interview late on Thursday: "If the Irish people decide to reject the treaty of Lisbon, naturally, there will be no treaty of Lisbon."

The treaty, intended to make the EU stronger and more effective, has the backing of all the main political parties in a country that has prospered from its membership of the bloc.

The last opinion poll published days before the vote showed the "yes" camp narrowly in the lead, and bookmakers strongly favoured the treaty to pass. But weak turnout was widely seen as boosting the "no" camp, whose backers hold strong views.

Ballot counting starts on Friday at 9 a.m., with "tallymen" hired by political parties to observe the count likely to give the first indications of the result in late morning. The final result will come late in the afternoon.