Bougainville overwhelmingly votes for independence from Papua New Guinea

The people of Bougainville, an island group in Papua New Guinea, have voted overwhelmingly for independence

Voters had two options - more autonomy, or full independence. Of the 181,000 ballots, almost 98% were in favour of independence

The referendum was approved by the Papua New Guinea government, but the result is non-binding

Nevertheless, the landslide victory will put pressure on PNG to grant Bougainville independence

The islands have a population of around 300,000, and 206,731 people enrolled to vote in the referendum

In total, 181,067 ballots were cast. Of those:

• 176,928 voted for independence
• 3,043 voted for greater autonomy
• 1,096 were classed as informal, or void.

The results were announced in the town of Buka by former Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern, the chairman of the Bougainville Referendum Commission.

"Now, at least psychologically, we feel liberated," said John Momis, president of the regional autonomous government

Why was there a referendum?

Bougainville had a nine-year separatist war that began in 1988, fuelled by economic grievance.

The end of the fighting led to the Bougainville Peace Agreement, the creation of the Autonomous Bougainville Govt  and the promise of a non-binding referendum on independence

Even in colonial times, Bougainville was an outpost. The islands attempted to declare independence during the formation of Papua New Guinea in 1975 - but they were ignored

Is Bougainville ready for independence?

The new country - should it happen - would be small, with a land mass of less than 10,000 sq km (slightly larger than Cyprus, and slightly smaller than Lebanon)

Likewise, its population would be one of the world's smallest - slightly smaller than Pacific neighbour Vanuatu, and slightly bigger than Barbados

But according to research by Australia's Lowy Institute, Bougainville self-reliance would at best be years away

The country is rich in natural resources - especially copper, which has been extracted on a large scale since the 1960s under Australian administration

But mining has been crippled by the war - and the distribution of revenue was one of the factors behind the conflict.