Ireland, one of Europe's most socially conservative countries, has voted by a landslide to liberalize the world's most restrictive abortion laws.

Votes are still being counted Saturday but both sides agree with exit polls showing a 2-1 nationwide vote to #RepealThe8th.

"The public have spoken. The result appears to be resounding... in favor of repealing the 8th Amendment" constitutional ban on abortion, Prime Minister Leo Varadkar, who campaigned for repeal, told journalists in Dublin.

"What we see is the culmination of a quiet revolution that has been taking place in Ireland over the last couple of decades," said Varadkar, who became the country's first openly gay prime minister last year.

Emotional pro choice campaigners singing at Dublin Castle awaiting the formal announcement that Ireland has repealed the constitutional amendment that all but bans abortion in the state. #8thRef #HomeToVote pic.twitter.com/T71ZmEzdcu — David Young (@DavidYoungPA) May 26, 2018

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