Referendums are notoriously poor ways to make decisions in divided societies.
In fact, the referendum in Bosnia was the trigger for the outbreak of the civil war. Nonetheless, given that nothing could pass without at least some protestants voting for it, it was one of the 'confidence-building measures' offered to Unionists in 1994 when they were hesitating about the IRA ceasefire. At the same time, everybody understood that substantial numbers of both Unionists and Nationalists had to approve the deal for it to stand any chance of survival. From the outset, the most vocal opposition came from those Unionists who had not participated in its creation. Their appeal was emotional and confrontational, attacking the more morally ambiguous parts of the Agreement which sought to deal with practical if complex problems such as the release of paramilitary prisoners, the decommissioning of weapons, the future of policing and the multi-party executive which would allow the Sinn Fein leadership to sit in cabinet.