page_title: 2018 Macedonian referendum
section_title: Objections and boycotts
hierarchical_section_title: 2018 Macedonian referendum / Campaign / Objections and boycotts
caption_attribution_description: English: Banners (and some posters) of the Bojkotiram movement opposite to the Parliament of the Republic of Macedonia in Skopje.
context_page_description: 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 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.
  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, just reaching the two-thirds majority required.
context_section_description: The main opposition party VMRO-DPMNE threatened to boycott the referendum and claimed the Prespa agreement to be an act of treason. However, in early September, VMRO-DPMNE president Hristijan Mickoski made a statement encouraging citizens to vote as they saw fit, and that the party would respect different opinions. The party did not participate in the referendum campaign, while several high ranking party members voiced their support for a boycott or the "Yes" side. In early September, a cable from the US embassy in the Republic of Macedonia revealed by WikiLeaks showed that the 2008 VMRO-DPMNE government was willing to accept the name Republic of North Macedonia, for international and bilateral use only, provided it included the recognition of the Macedonian language and nationality. The proposal had been rejected by Greece. This was denied by media close to the party, which stated that VMRO-DPMNE was only willing to accept changing the FYROM reference to North Macedonia, while keeping the constitutional name the same. On 23 September, President Gjorge Ivanov, who was elected as the VMRO-DPMNE candidate, decried the agreement and called on citizens to boycott the vote. Various other small anti-Western organizations with pro-Serbian and pro-Russian orientations organized protests against the name change.
  Among the Macedonian diaspora, a majority of Macedonians living in Australia stated that they would boycott the vote.
caption: Banners and posters of the boycott movement Bojkotiram opposite to the Assembly of the Republic of Macedonia in Skopje, three days after the referendum
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