2018 Macedonian referendum
A referendum was held in the Republic of Macedonia on 30 September 2018, with voters asked whether they supported EU and NATO membership by accepting the Prespa Agreement between Macedonia and Greece, signed in June 2018, which aimed to settle the 27-year naming dispute, which had prevented Macedonia from joining both the European Union and NATO. Despite 94% of voters voting in favour, voter turnout was around 37%, less than the 50% threshold required to validate the results.
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Are you in favour of European Union and NATO membership by accepting the agreement between the Republic of Macedonia and the Republic of Greece? | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Outcome | Proposal not validated as voter turnout was below 50% | |||||||||||||||||||||
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Results by municipality | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Politics of North Macedonia |
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North Macedonia portal
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Both the opposition and government claimed victory, with the opposition claiming that the proposal had been rejected by virtue of the low turnout and the government argued that the result being non-binding meant the turnout requirement was irrelevant. As the referendum was non-binding and included constitutional changes, it also had to be ratified by two-thirds of the Assembly of the Republic. Macedonian Prime Minister Zoran Zaev vowed to push forward with the changes in the Assembly, which was achieved on 19 October 2018, when 80 of the 120 MPs voted in favour of the renaming proposal, narrowly reaching the two-thirds majority required.