Voters in Ireland rejected a government plan to abolish the upper house of parliament, the Senate, according to the official results of a referendum released Saturday, dpa reported. The combined results of 43 constituencies showed that 51.7 per cent voted against abolition of the Senate, while 48.3 per cent voted in favour in Friday\'s poll. The result is a defeat for the Fine Gael-led coalition government, who claimed the Senate, which first sat in 1922, was too costly to run in hard economic times. The government claimed abolition would save taxpayers 20 million euros (27 million dollars) and deliver its promised reform of the political system.