Macedonia clears first hurdle to change name

New name will remove hurdle for country to be Nato, EU member

Skopje ( Macedonia), Oct. 1: Macedonian voters on Sunday supported a plan to rename the country aimed at ending a decadeslong spat with Greece and unlocking a path to Nato and EU membership, although the referendum was marred by low turnout.

With ballots from 93 percent of polling stations counted, 91.3 percent of votes favoured the name changing to North Macedonia, compared to 5.7 percent opposed, according to the electoral commission’s official count. However, only a third of the 1.8 millionstrong electorate voted.

Greece reacted to the result with the foreign ministry saying it “remains committed” to its June agreement with Skopje under which Athens would drop its objections to Macedonia joining the EU and Nato in return for a change of name.

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras expressed his support for his Macedonian counterpart in a telephone call in which he hailed the “determination and courage” of Zoran Zaev to “complete the implementation of this agreement”, a government source told AFP.

The non- binding referendum on renaming Macedonia needs to be ratified in Parliament by a two- thirds majority and also given the stamp of approval by the Greek Parliament.

Mr Zaev and his coalition partners from the ethnic Albanian minority will need at least a dozen MPs from the Opposition to back the move. “MPs now have an obligation to make Macedonia a better place for all of us,” Mr Zaev told reporters late on Sunday.

But the rightwing opposition VMRO- DPMNE party said the low turnout made the referendum “deeply unsuccessful” with party leader Hristijan Mickoski telling reporters the “government lost its legitimacy”.

◗ The non- binding referendum on renaming Macedonia needs to be ratified in Parliament by a two- thirds majority and also given the stamp of approval by the Greek Parliament

— AP A man passes an ethnic Albanian mural in Skopje, Macedonia, on Monday. Macedonia’s government faced a looming political battle on Monday to push through a deal with Greece that would ultimately pave the way for Nato membership, after a referendum on the agreement won overwhelming support but with low voter turnout.