Macedonia's referendum fails to give Albanians more autonomy

A referendum on territorial law that intends to give Macedonia's Albanian minority greater autonomy failed to pass the turnout minimum, the Macedonian State Election Commission (SEC) announced Monday.

According to the SEC, only 26.24 percent of the total 1.7 million registered voters have cast their ballots, well below the 50 percent minimum needed to be valid.

Under Macedonian's constitution, the referendum will be successful only if the turnout is above 50 percent and more than half voters vote for it.

The referendum was launched on Sunday morning to decide whether the new territorial law will be put into enforcement.

The Macedonian government and the European Union had called fora boycott to ensure it would fail, warning a repeal of the laws would derail Macedonia's bid to join the EU and NATO.

The Macedonian parliament passed on Aug. 11 the new territoriallaw, which would reduce the number of municipalities from 123 to 80 and give the ethnic Albanian minority greater autonomy.

The new law, which would clear the last obstacle to fully implementing the Ohrid peace agreement and is seen by the West as crucial for Macedonia to join the NATO and the European Union, has been strongly objected by the opposition with many ethnic Macedonians claiming it would split the country along ethnic lines. The bloc against the new law collected over 150,000 signatures required for calling a referendum on territorial law one week after its approval. The parliament on Sept. 3 decided to set Nov. 7 as the date of referendum.

The Ohrid peace agreement was reached in 2001 between the ethnic Macedonians and ethnic Albanians under the West's pressure,ending more than seven months of armed conflicts between them in which ethnic Albanians sought independence.

Macedonia has a population of about 2 million. The ethnic Macedonians account for more than 64 percent, while about 25 percent are ethnic Albanians.

Source: Xinhua