STANLEY, Falkland Islands -- Residents of the Falkland Islands voted almost unanimously to stay under British rule in a referendum aimed at winning global sympathy as Argentina intensifies its sovereignty claim, results showed on Monday.

The official count showed 99.8 percent of islanders voted in favor of remaining a British Overseas Territory in the two-day referendum, which was rejected by Argentina as a meaningless publicity stunt. Only three "no" votes were cast.

"Surely this must be the strongest message we can get out to the world," said Roger Edwards, one of the Falklands assembly's eight elected members.

"(The message is) that we are content, that we wish to retain the status quo ... with the right to determine our own future and not become a colony of Argentina."

Javier Lizon / EPA

Falkland Islanders celebrate in Port Stanley on Monday. Of the 1,517 ballots cast, just three were against the motion to remain a British overseas territory.

Pro-British feeling is running high in the barren and blustery islands that lie off the tip of Patagonia, and turnout was 92 percent among the 1,649 Falklands-born and long-term residents registered to vote.

Three decades since Argentina and Britain went to war over the far-flung South Atlantic archipelago, residents have been perturbed by Argentina's increasingly vocal claim over the Malvinas -- as the islands are called in Spanish.

Local politicians hope the resounding "yes" vote will help them lobby support abroad, for example in the United States, which has a neutral position on the sovereignty issue.

"We're never going to change Argentina's claim and point of view, but I believe there are an awful lot of countries out there that are sitting on the fence. ... This is going to show them quite clearly what the people think," Edwards added.

'We are British'
The mood was festive as islanders lined up in the cold to vote in the low-key island capital of Stanley during voting, some wearing novelty outfits made from the red, white and blue Union Jack flag.

"We are British, and that's the way we want to stay," said Barry Nielsen, who wore a Union Jack hat to cast his ballot at the town hall polling station in Stanley, where most of the roughly 2,500 islanders live.

Argentina's fiery left-leaning president, Cristina Fernandez, has piled pressure on Britain to negotiate the sovereignty of the islands, something London refuses to do unless the islanders request talks.

Government officials in Buenos Aires questioned the referendum's legitimacy. They say the sovereignty dispute must be resolved between Britain and Argentina and cite U.N. resolutions calling on London to sit down for talks.

Argentina has claimed the islands since 1833, saying it inherited them from the Spanish on independence and that Britain expelled an Argentine population.

Javier Lizon / EPA

A man wearing a Union flag suit dances as he casts his vote in the referendum to decide if the Falkland Islands would remain a British territory.

Falkland islanders, who are enjoying an economic boom thanks partly to the sale of oil and natural gas exploration licenses, say they do not expect Monday's result to sway Argentina.

"Argentina's stance on the Falklands will stay the same," said Stanley resident Craig Paice, wearing a T-shirt with the slogan "Our Islands, Our Decision" as he waited to vote on Monday.

"But hopefully the world will now listen and know the people of the Falkland Islands have a voice."

Related:

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UK accuses Argentina of 'threats' and 'harassment' over Falklands

From Jan. 2012: Will Prince William's tour of duty reignite simmering Falklands dispute?

British officials said Wednesday they would not engage in talks with Argentina following President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner's statement that her government would complain to the U.N. Security Council about militarization of the Falkland Islands, the BBC reported.

Last week, Prince William, the second in line to the British throne, was posted to the Falklands for six weeks as a Royal Air Force military search-and-rescue helicopter pilot. Britain has also sent a new military destroyer, the HMS Dauntless, to the South Atlantic off the Falklands, an archipelago nearly 300 miles off the mainland of South America. it is called Las Malvinas by Argentina.

Argentina to protest 'militarization' of South Atlantic at UN

According to the BBC, Fernandez told a group of Argentine government officials and veterans of the Falkland War on Tuesday that she believed Britain was “militarizing the South Atlantic one more time.”

Reuters reported that a spokesman for British Prime Minister David Cameron said Britain was not militarizing the South Atlantic and that the deployment of ships is “entirely routine.”

Tensions have been rising between the two countries as the 30^th anniversary of the Falkland War approaches.

In 1982, Argentina, under the leadership of a military junta, launched a 10-week war with Britain over the country’s claim to the Falklands. At the time, the Security Council called on Argentina to withdraw its forces. Dispute over the island’s sovereignty dates back 180 years. 

According to The New York Times, a spokesman for the British Foreign Office said, “The people of the Falkland Islands are British out of choice. They are free to determine their own future, and there will be no negotiations with Argentina on sovereignty unless the islanders wish it.”

Reuters contributed to this report.

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British officials accuse Argentina of attempting to blockade the Falkland Islands by stopping the only air link to the chain of isles from South America, according to a UK media report.

Argentina's president, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, in the past has threatened to stop the weekly flight from Punta Arenas, Chile, to Port Stanley, the only city in the Falkland Islands. The flight is run by Chilean airline LAN and is a vital economic link to Britons living on the Falklands.

An unnamed senior British diplomat told the Guardian in a story published on Wednesday that the move to stop the flight is likely to come soon. Even if the airline resisted Argentine pressure to ground the flights, Argentina would prohibit use of its airspace, officials said.

Argentina to UK: Prince arriving dressed as 'conquistador'

"If the LAN Chile flight is cancelled, it would be pretty difficult to resist the already credible thesis that there is an economic blockade of the civilian population of the Falklands," the diplomat told the Guardian.

Buenos Aires and London have been locked in a war of words on the eve of the 30th anniversary of the war between Argentina and Britain. In that conflict, Argentina's invasion of the island ended with more than 600 Argentine soldiers killed and 200 British dead.

Britain sending advanced warship to Falklands

Earlier this week, it was announced one of the most sophisticated destroyers in the Royal Navy, the HMS Dauntless, would be deployed to the Falklands. And a training mission on the disputed South Atlantic islands by Prince William was criticized by Argentina's foreign ministry this week as the second-in-line to the throne "arriving on sovereign soil dressed in the uniform of a conquistador."

In a speech to the UN last September, Fernandez threatened to block the Chile flights if Britain refused to negotiate sovereignty of the islands. Argentina calls the archipegalo the Las Malvinas.

British Prime Minister David Cameron has refused to hold talks. 

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