The Norwegian government knew in advance of the Swedish demands, and forestalled it by declaring a plebiscite for 13 August—before the formal Swedish demand for a plebiscite was made, thus forestalling any claim that the referendum was made in response to demands from Stockholm. The people were not asked to answer yes or no to the dissolution, but to "confirm the dissolution that had already taken place". The response was 368,392 votes for the dissolution and only 184 against, an overwhelming majority of over 99.9 percent. After a request from the Storting for Swedish cooperation to repeal the Act of Union, delegates from both countries convened at Karlstad on 31 August. The talks were temporarily interrupted along the way. At the same time, troop concentrations in Sweden made the Norwegian government mobilize its army and navy on 13 September. Agreement was nevertheless reached on 23 September. The main points were that disputes between the countries should in the future be referred to the permanent court of arbitration at The Hague, that a neutral zone should be established on both sides of the border, and that the Norwegian fortifications in the zone were to be demolished.