RPT - Macedonian Opposition Party Claims Victory In Name Change Vote Citing Low Turnout

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 02nd October, 2018) Macedonia's opposition has won as the turnout at the referendum on the country's name change was considerably lower than the legally required 50-percent threshold, Dr. Janko Bachev, the president of United Macedonia opposition party, told Sputnik.

The majority of the people who showed up to vote on Sunday backed the name change, but the turnout was around 37 percent, according to the State Election Commission, which is less than the 50 percent needed to validate the results of a non-binding referendum. Prime Minister Zoran Zaev nevertheless said that the result signaled a triumph of democracy and of a "European Macedonia," and pledged to proceed with the name change.

"Yesterday, we defeated the puppet government controlled by the foreign center ... Although the puppet-government wants to twist the truth and present the referendum as successful, the truth is that turnout was very low and the referendum has completely failed," Bachev, who led the campaign to boycott the referendum, said.

Bachev said his party's observers recorded a turnout figure of less than 33 percent. The opposition politician alleged that there was illegal voting in some places with a large Albanian population in the afternoon.

According to Bachev, the majority of Macedonians were not interested in EU or NATO membership which would open up for the country if it changes its name and thus resolves the dispute with Athens.

In June, Macedonia and Greece signed an accord on renaming the country to the Republic of North Macedonia. The deal resolved the decades-long dispute between Athens and Skopje over the use of "Macedonia," which is also the name of a region in Greece. The Macedonian parliament ratified the deal on name change in July, paving the way for the September 30 referendum on the country's NATO and EU membership. The possibility of accession was earlier impossible due to the naming dispute.