The Pacific people of Bougainville overwhelmingly voted in favor of independence from Papua New Guinea to become the world’s newest nation on Wednesday. 98% of valid ballots were in favor of independence, while the other option was for greater autonomy from Papua New Guinea. About 85% of eligible voters cast around 181,000 ballots over two weeks of voting. The referendum, which is nonbinding, is a key part of a 2001 peace agreement that ended a civil war that killed at least 15,000 people in the cluster of islands to the east of the Papua New Guinea mainland. Independence would now need to be negotiated between leaders from both sides, and the final say would then go to lawmakers in the Papua New Guinea government.

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