(Video) Sekerinska and Osmani: Citizens give institutions legitimacy to move forward

Citizens who voted at yesterday’s referendum and supported Macedonia’s EU and NATO integration through the Agreement with Greece give full legitimacy to institutions to resume with the implementation of the obligations arising from the deal, Vice Premiers Radmila Sekerinska and Bujar Osmani told a joint press conference on Monday.

“We had a consultative referendum as an instrument to check the political will of citizens. This instrument is reflected by the number of votes – 661,000 in this case, of which 606,000 ‘For’. This number gives institutions full legitimacy to continue with the implementation of the obligations arising from this international agreement,” said Vice Premier for European Affairs Osmani.

According to him, the turnout issue is not related to the referendum question, adding that Macedonia had problems with the turnout at prior elections too, citing the presidential elections when the threshold had to be lowered to 40 percent.

“MPs have no other option than following the majority vote in order to speed up the country’s NATO and EU membership,” said Vice Premier and Defense Minister Sekerinska.

She added that all political parties should unite and work towards this goal, saying it is key to put aside the individual and partisan interests, putting the common interest in the focus.

“This is a time when Macedonia needs unity. On one hand we have Macedonia in EU and NATO, on the other we have isolation and uncertainty of our country,” said Sekerinska, noting that snap elections is the only remaining option.

She said meeting will take place with all political factors over the course of the week, in order to make an assessment of the possibility to secure a two-third majority in Parliament.