Page 14 - bne_newspaper_October_05_2018

Southeast Europe
October 5, 2018 www.intellinews.com I Page 14
Low turnout in name deal referendum puts Macedonia’s EU future in doubt
Valentina Dimitrievska in Skopje
The vast majority of voters who cast a ballot in the crucial name deal referendum in Macedonia voted yes on September 30, but the turnout was low at just over 36%.
Around 91.4% of those who turned out to vote cast yes votes in the referendum, data from the state election commission showed after 97% of the votes were counted. However, only 36.8% of the 1.8mn voters cast their vote.
The referendum was not an obligatory but a con- sultative one, so what is most important is that the majority voted yes. Nevertheless, a strong turnout would have helped Prime Minister Zoran Zaev to convince some MPs to vote in favour of the constitutional changes which are required for the full implementation of the name deal. So far Zaev, who needs the support of 80 MPs, has slightly over 70 MPs on his side.
The people were asked “Are you for Nato and EU accession by accepting the name deal between Republic of Macedonia and Republic of Greece?” The agreement with Greece was signed in June, following months of negotiations, with the aim of unblocking the process of Nato and EU integra- tion. Greece has long objected to the use of the name “Macedonia” as it has a province in the north with the same name.
Without the deal, Macedonia is unable to become a Nato member or to launch EU accession nego- tiations. However for many people in Macedonia, the deal is unacceptable as the country is forced
A poster urging voters to boycott Macedonia's September 30 referendum. Turnout for the critical vote was just 36.9%.
to change its name to North Macedonia for both international and domestic use, which will require constitutional changes.
As the results came through, Zaev called on the op- position to put aside party interests and to support the deal in the interest of all the country’s people.
However, the failure to meet the psychologically important threshold of 50%+ one vote means that it will be more difficult for Zaev to muster the two-thirds majority in parliament he needs for the changes to be passed.
Experts said that it was difficult for the thresh- old to be reached taking into account that many people have emigrated from Macedonia in the last decade looking for better life, meaning they were not in the country on the day of the vote.
Most of the voters at polling stations were elderly people. The sunny day did not tempt younger vot- ers to say yes or no to the deal.
Despite fears of potential unrest, voting went on calmly without major incidents.
Parliament to decide
Zaev, of the ruling Social Democrats, said after the state election commission counted most of the votes that the procedure for the implementation of the name deal will continue in the parliament if he gets support from the opposition. Should he fail to secure opposition support, he said that an early general election will be held by the end of November.