Successful referendum, unsuccessful turnout

With divided evaluations about the success of the third plebiscite voting in the country, yesterday’s referendum day in Macedonia has ended. Prime Minister Zoran Zaev presented it as a successful vote in which nearly 35 percent of the registered voters participated, of whom the vast majority, over 90 percent, voted “for” on the question “Are you in favor of Macedonia’s membership in NATO and the EU by accepting the Prespa agreement?”.
– We have success for democracy and for European Macedonia. The success is common, to our country, to all citizens. Despite the organized boycott by the opposition leaders, with few exceptions, a large majority of citizens have chosen the European path for Macedonia,” Zaev told a press conference shortly after the closing of the ballot boxes.
In contrast, VMRO-DPMNE leader Hristijan Mickoski, who in the afternoon made sure to inform his supporters that he would not vote, concluded that the referendum was “deeply unsuccessful”.
-Macedonia said ‘stop’ to the name agreement. We had a deeply unsuccessful referendum. The politics of the government and Zoran Zaev has been defeated, and Macedonia has truly won. The number of citizens who did not support this shameful agreement, ie citizens who abstained from voting or voted “against” the agreement is drastically higher than those citizens who voted “for” the agreement, said Mickoski.
In addition to failing to secure the desired mobilization of the electorate, the referendum also depicted the divisions in the opposition party. A section of former and current VMRO-DPMNE officials voted in the referendum despite the open call for a boycott that President Gjorge Ivanov sent from the United States and the hidden policies in that direction to the party’s close leadership. But, unlike Mickoski’s estimates that the modest turnout in the referendum delegated Zaev policies, the first scores from the international community are positive in terms of the outcome of the referendum. EU Enlargement Commissioner Johannes Hahn assessed that “there is broad support to the Prespa Agreement and to the country’s Euro-Atlantic path.”
However, despite Zaev’s assessment that the referendum had reached the goal and Mickoski’s remarks that the policies of the current government were delegitimized, after the closing of the polling stations there was no celebratory mood in both camps – at the Alexander Palace Hotel, where the headquarters was located the campaign “Vote For” and at the headquarters of VMRO-DPMNE in the center of Skopje. Only two hundred citizens of the “Boycott” movement celebrated before the Macedonian Parliament.
Zaev said the process of implementing Greece’s agreement moved into the legislature. However, the insufficient turnout, despite the clearly expressed will for”, weakens the positions of the ruling majority before the start of the procedures for passing the constitutional amandments arising from the Prespa Agreement. As a result, the prime minister left the option of snap elections open, unless the required two-thirds majority for the constitutional revisions is reached.
“Now, the voice of the citizens, the will of those who voted in this consultative referendum, should turn into political activity in the legislature. As expected, there is a large majority ‘For’ from those who voted, then the future is clear. The vote of MPs should favor the acceleration of the processes towards NATO and EU membership. We expect VMRO-DPMNE MPs to respect the democratic decision. Otherwise, we will have to use the other tool at our disposal – snap parliamentary elections,” said Zaev.
But Mickoski’s initial positions do not suggest the political will of the opposition to engage in the process of constitutional revisions. The leader of VMRO-DPMNE stated that his party would follow the will of the people, who, according to him, said “no” to the Government’s manipulations with the true values ​​of the EU and NATO.
– The will and the aspirations for EU and NATO membership are our strategic priorities as well, they are here and they still exist, but everyone should respect the fact that the people have their perceptions and priorities that are especially important to them, such as the name of this country, and their identity, passed from generation to generation, from grandfather to grandson.
“The outcome of the referendum in FYROM, which is  consultative and is not included in the legally binding conditions of the Prespa Agreement, is contradictory. An overwhelming ‘Yes’ vote, which lacks adequate turnout. A majority of the society in the neighboring country supported the agreement. However, it has been met by skepticism by an important part. Greece respects the choice the citizens of FYROM have made,” reads the Ministry’s statement.
– A majority of the society supported the agreement, however it has been met by skepticism, but Greece respect the choice the people of the neighboring country have made, according to Greece’s Foreign Ministry.
In a statement regarding the outcome of Sunday’s name referendum, which is called ‘contradictory’, the Foreign Ministry says that Greece has been closely following developments, but from an adequate distance.
“Next steps require sobriety from all sides without exception to maintain the positive dynamic of the Prespa Agreement,” states the press release of the Greek Foreign Ministry commenting on the referendum’s outcome.
The initial announcement was that the process of constitutional changes after the referendum would be finalized by the end of December, and then later, in January or February, the Prespa agreement would be ratified in parliament in Athens before the European elections in May. The possible extraordinary election in the country, as an option that Zaev opened last night, would, in turn, slow down the process and create uncertainty about the further implementation of the agreement, given that it takes at least 40 days to schedule snap elections.

According to the latest results, before the closing of this issue of Nezavisen Vesnik, from the processed data of 88, 5 percent of polling stations, more than 36.27 percent of registered voters voted yesterday or 569.871 voters went to the polls. Out of these, 91, 33 percent voted “for”, and 5.76 “against”, ie the ratio is 520.460 versus 32.801 votes.

Aleksandra M. Mitevska