SKOPJE: Mace­donia’s Prime Minister Zoran Zaev voiced confidence that those who voted in Sunday’s national referendum have accepted the plan to rename the country and thereby end a decades-long spat with Greece.

“I think the huge majority of the citizens who voted have chosen the European path for Macedonia,” the social-democrat leader said, stopping short to explicitly announce the victory of the ‘yes’ camp at a press conference held an hour after the polls closed at 7pm (1700 GMT).

Two-thirds of voters stayed away from the polling stations for the non-binding referendum on whether to change the name of the country to “North Macedonia”.

According to the electoral commission, a half an hour before the end of voting the turnout was less than 35 per cent.

But Zaev urged the right-wing opposition, who might well question the vote’s credibility due to the low turnout, to “respect the democratic will of the citizens” and ratify the deal in parliament or face “early parliamentary elections”.

For the two-thirds parliamentary majority required to ratify the result, Zaev and his coalition partners from the ethnic Albanian minority need at least a dozen MPs from the opposition to back the move.

Opponents of the change, who had called for a boycott of the name-change referendum, announced plans for a celebration outside parliament, where they had set up a stage during the afternoon. However, barely 300 people gathered there an hour and a half after the polls closed.

The vote is an emotional moment for a country that has struggled for recognition of its name since 1991, when the former Yugoslav republic declared independence.

At the time, Athens kicked up a major fuss, accusing Skopje of stealing the name of its own northern province, which is also called Macedonia.

The dispute dives deep into history with both countries vying to lay claim to Alexander the Great’s ancient empire of Macedon, which spanned their territories.

But in June, Macedonia’s new premier Zoran Zaev and his Greek counterpart Alexis Tsipras reached a landmark compromise under which Athens would drop its objections to Macedonia joining the EU and Nato in return for a change of name.

Zaev has billed the referendum as a painful but “historic” opportunity to break the 27-year-old stalemate.

But the deal has been openly opposed by President Gjorge Ivanov, who is allied with the nationalist opposition and had supported calls for a boycott of the referendum.

Greece watching closely

The referendum is not binding, but a ‘yes’ majority would give parliament a political mandate to change the constitution.

If the deal is backed in the referendum and ratified by two-thirds of MPs, the Greek parliament will be called on to give it the final stamp of approval.

Sunday’s vote was being closely watched across the border in Greece, where nationalists staged a protest against the deal earlier this month.

“We hope for a positive outcome for the proceedings to progress with the constitutional review,” Greek government spo­kesman Dimitris Tza­nakopoulos said on the radio. “Any other result would create a disturbance.”

Europe and the US have campaigned hard for the deal, with many leaders passing through Skopje this month to urge Macedonians to seize the “historic” opportunity.

Published in Dawn, October 1st, 2018