2018 Macedonian referendum

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2018 Macedonian referendum

30 September 2018

Are you in favour of European Union and NATO membership by accepting the agreement between the Republic of Macedonia and the Republic of Greece?
OutcomeProposal not validated as voter turnout was below 50%
Results
Choice
Votes %
Yes 609,427 94.18%
No 37,687 5.82%
Valid votes 647,114 97.11%
Invalid or blank votes 19,230 2.89%
Total votes 666,344 100.00%
Registered voters/turnout 1,806,336 36.89%

Results by municipality

A

Republic of Macedonia on 30 September 2018, with voters asked whether they supported EU and NATO membership by accepting the Prespa Agreement between Macedonia and Greece, signed in June 2018, which aimed to settle the 27-year naming dispute,[1][2] which had prevented Macedonia from joining both the European Union and NATO.[3] Despite 94% of voters voting in favour, voter turnout was around 37%, less than the 50% threshold required to validate the results.[4]

Both the opposition and government claimed victory, with the opposition claiming that the proposal had been rejected by virtue of the low turnout and the government argued that the result being non-binding meant the turnout requirement was irrelevant. As the referendum was non-binding and included constitutional changes, it also had to be ratified by two-thirds of the Assembly of the Republic.

Macedonian Prime Minister Zoran Zaev vowed to push forward with the changes in the Assembly,[6]
which was achieved on 19 October 2018, when 80 of the 120 MPs voted in favour of the renaming proposal, narrowly reaching the two-thirds majority required.

Background

After the independence of the Republic of Macedonia from

Greek part of the region of Macedonia and objected to the use of "Macedonia" by the newly independent state. The state was admitted to the United Nations in 1993 with the provisional reference "the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia",[7] while most countries recognised the Republic of Macedonia under its constitutional name
.

Repeated attempts to negotiate a composite name failed for almost three decades. However, in 2018, high-level contacts between the governments of the two countries intensified, with Macedonian Deputy Prime Minister

Macedonia
's bid to join regional initiatives or agreements.

On 12 June 2018, Tsipras announced that he had reached an agreement with Zaev "which covers all the preconditions set by the Greek side."[12] The negotiations would result in the Republic of Macedonia being renamed the Republic of North Macedonia, with the new name being used for all purposes.[13] Zaev announced that the agreement included recognition of the Macedonian language in the United Nations and that the term used for nationality of the country would be Macedonian/citizen of the Republic of North Macedonia.[14][15] "The agreement once and for always confirms and strengthens the Macedonian ethnic and cultural identity, the Macedonian language, the Macedonian nationality. It guarantees the security of the country and provides a secure future for the citizens of the Republic of Macedonia", Zaev said.[16] Additionally, the agreement stipulates removal of the Vergina Sun from public use in the Republic of Macedonia and formation of a committee for the review of school textbooks and maps in both countries for the removal of irredentist content and to align them with UNESCO and Council of Europe's standards.[17] The agreement was signed at Lake Prespa, a body of water shared between Albania, Greece and North Macedonia from which it got its name.

The agreement stipulated that the Macedonian government could hold a referendum on the matter. The

Assembly of the Republic paved the way for the referendum by ratifying the agreement for a second time in early July.[18] After a month long delay by the opposition party VMRO-DPMNE to slow down the referendum preparation by not appointing members to the State Election Commission, the Assembly finally agreed as of the end of July on a new composition.[19][20] The Assembly set aside 1.3 million euros for the referendum campaign and as the VMRO-DPMNE opposition refused to participate and access funds, only 900,000 euros was spent on 66 media outlets by politicians supporting a yes vote.[21]

Political scientist Biljana Vankovska claimed that the referendum was unconstitutional, noting that Article 73 of the constitution required referendums to be binding.[22]

Question

The text of the question put to voters was:

Are you in favour of European Union and NATO membership by accepting the agreement between the Republic of Macedonia and the Republic of Greece?[23]

Campaign

Support

Pro-EU referendum billboard in Debar, in Albanian. Translated it reads: The EU helps Macedonia with 260,000 euros a day. Together for a European Macedonia.

Albanians in Macedonia to support the deal and vote “Yes” in the referendum.[29][30][31] In Macedonia, Albanian political parties and their leaders Ali Ahmeti (DUI), Menduh Thaçi (DPA), Bilall Kasami (Besa Movement) and Ziadin Sela (Alliance for Albanians) supported the “Yes” vote.[32]

Objections and boycotts

, three days after the referendum
Macedonian referendum boycott poster in Struga. Translated it reads: Who gave you the right to change our name and identity? Our name is Macedonia #I will boycott

The main opposition party

which?] with pro-Serbian and pro-Russian orientations organized protests against the name change.[38]

Among the Macedonian diaspora, a majority of Macedonians living in Australia stated that they would boycott the vote.[39]

Russian interference

Various diplomats and analysts,

a failed coup in Montenegro attempting to prevent that country from joining NATO.[42]

Opinion polls

Date(s) conducted Yes No Undecided Will not vote Error margin Sample Conducted by Method
28 June – 15 July 2018 49% 22% 13% 16% ± 3.0% 1100 respondents aged 18 and over IRI Face-to-face interviews
24 July – 1 August 2018 41.5% 35.1% 9.2% 12.4% ± 3.1% 1026 likely voters MCIC Computer-assisted telephone interview

Results

Turnout in the quota referendum by municipalities

While the vote in favour of the referendum question reached 94.18%, total turnout reached only 36.89% with 666,344 votes cast, well below the 50% par for the referendum to be valid.

NATO stance of the Albanian minority, and its support of Premier Zaev's government, turnout in the 15 predominantly ethnic Albanian municipalities was only marginally lower than in the previous local election with 233,000 votes cast.[45][46][47]

ChoiceVotes%
For609,42794.18
Against37,6875.82
Total647,114100.00
Valid votes647,11497.11
Invalid/blank votes19,2302.89
Total votes666,344100.00
Registered voters/turnout1,806,33636.89
Source: SEC

Reactions

Macedonian counterpart Zoran Zaev right after the referendum to congratulate him for the positive outcome.[50]

Russia, a staunch opponent of Macedonia's Euro-Atlantic integration, on the other hand, hinted that it could veto the Prespa agreement between the Republic of Macedonia and Greece, by bringing it to the United Nations Security Council. Macedonia dismissed Moscow's threats by stating that bilateral agreements cannot be dependent on the Security Council.[51][52]

Aftermath

On 19 October 2018, the

Assembly voted to start the process of renaming the country Republic of North Macedonia. A total of 80 deputies in the 120-seat Assembly voted in favour of the renaming proposal, just reaching the two-thirds majority needed to enact constitutional changes.[53] On 3 December 2018, the Assembly approved a draft constitutional amendment, with 67 voting in favour, 23 voting against and 4 abstaining. A simple majority was needed at this stage.[54]

The decisive vote to amend the constitution and change the name of the country was passed on 11 January 2019 in favor of the amendment.[55] On 25 January 2019, the Greek Parliament approved the Prespa agreement with 153 votes in favor and 146 votes against.[56] The international community, including the Prime Ministers Justin Trudeau of Canada and Boyko Borisov of Bulgaria, President Hashim Thaçi of Kosovo, the President of the EU, Donald Tusk, the President of EU's Commission Jean-Claude Juncker, Germany's and Albania's foreign Ministers, Heiko Maas and Ditmir Bushati respectively, as well as NATO's chief Jens Stoltenberg, welcomed positively the ratification of the deal.[57][58][59][60][61][62][63]

See also

References

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External links

Media related to Macedonian referendum, 2018 at Wikimedia Commons