Macedonian Prime Minister Zoran Zaev (C) holds a press conference after the voting ended in the ‘name’ referendum. Photo: EPA-EFE/NAKE BATEV

Based on 98.61 per cent of votes counted, Macedonia’s State Electoral Commission, DIK, on Monday said the turnout in Sunday’s consultative referendum was 36.87 per cent – far below the 50 per cent needed for the result to be deemed valid and legally binding.

The DIK also announced that of those same 98.61 per cent of votes counted, 91.48 per cent of votes were in favour of the deal with Greece, and 5.64 per cent were against.

In terms of numbers, of the 661,393 people who voted, 605,016 voted in favour of the agreement and 37,312 voted against.

Prime Minister Zoran Zaev, leader of the “Yes” campaign, said the overwhelming support of voters for the name deal sent a clear sign that he should continue to push for adoption of the agreement in parliament – for which he will need the support of at least some opposition MPs.

The governing coalition led by his Social Democrats and its supporters among smaller parties has the backing of 71 of the 120 MPs in the chamber. Zaev now needs the support of nine more MPs from the ranks of the opposition.

If not, Zaev said that the alternative was early elections in November, when the “Yes” camp would seek the two-thirds majority in parliament needed for the constitutional changes that would officialise the newly agreed name of Republic of North Macedonia.

The country’s Euro-Atlantic future was “a serious matter and there should be no kidding around”, Zaev said several times during his public address on Sunday night, in what was clearly a message designed for his political opponents.

Zaev said that he would give some ten days to efforts to persuade at least some of the opposition MPs from the opposition VMRO DPMNE party to support the deal in parliament before opting for elections. If this did not work, he said, early elections would be a must.

“If all goes according to deadlines, the elections could happen towards the end of November,” Zaev noted.

Greece Sticks to ‘Name’ Agreement In a press statement , the Greek Foreign Ministry on Sunday said Athens “remains committed to the Prespa Agreement”. It also called for the “culture of democratic dialogue to prevail” over attempts to impose a “climate of nationalism and suspicion, of daily fake news and rampant fanaticism. “The next steps forward require sobriety by all sides, without exception, for the positive momentum of the Prespa Agreement to be preserved”, the Greek Foreign Ministry concluded.

Insisting that the number of supporters of the name deal was greater than any political party had previously mustered at any parliamentary election, Zaev said they would form a good basis to hope for success.

In his own post-referendum address, the opposition VMRO DPMNE leader, Hristijan Mickoski, declared that the referendum had failed – and had exposed the wrong policies of the government.

“The fact is that the ‘name’ agreement did not get a green light but a stop [sign] from the people,” he told his supporters after the polls closed.

“The people who voted against the agreement, and those who chose through abstention to show what they think, have sent the loudest message – [that] this is Macedonia!”

In the headquarters of the VMRO DPMNE party, which did not stage a formal campaign for or against the referendum, but which clearly favoured a form of silent boycott, the celebratory mood was evident on Sunday evening.

Mickoski has not yet said whether he accepts Zaev’s call for early general elections if cross-party alks on adoption of the agreement in parliament fail.

Read more:

Macedonia Referendum Records Low Turnout, Both Sides Claim Victory

Referendum Campaign Wraps Up in Macedonia



Macedonia’s Referendum Seen as D-Day for its Future

Macedonia Opposition Accused of Playing ‘Two-faced’ Referendum Game

Turnout Becomes Key to Macedonia Referendum Battle