Following the referendum in the
Argentine President Cristina Kirchner said on Tuesday that the outcome of the referendum over the future political status of the Falkland Islands was a foregone conclusion.
Residents of the remote outpost in the South Atlantic voted this week on whether to remain a British Overseas Territory.
On Monday evening, the results showed that 99.8 per cent had voted yes, with a 92 per cent turnout among the approximately 1,650 Falkland Islands eligible to vote.
Speaking at an event at the Presidential Palace in Buenos Aires on Tuesday, President Kirchner said that "it's as if a bunch of squatters were to vote on whether or not to keep occupying a building illegally."
She quoted British Foreign Office minister Hugo Swire as saying that the referendum result didn't change the situation "from a legal point of view".
But President Kirchner also said she wanted to "reiterate our commitment to dialogue, our compliance with United Nations resolutions".
"That is the only way to really achieve a solution that also takes into account the interests of the people that live there," she added.
The United Kingdom has sovereignty of the Falkland Islands, but Argentina considers the "Islas Malvinas" to be part of their national territory, taken from them by the British more than 180 years ago.
Source: APTN