Question of the Week: How can the referendum result in Macedonia in which the turnout was 26.5% be considered a triumph for democracy?

Date: 10/11/04

Erhard Busek is Special Coordinator of the Stability Pact for South East Europe.

We asked him: How can the referendum result in Macedonia in which the turnout was 26.5% be considered a triumph for democracy?

Busek: The referendum is an option permitted by the Macedonian constitution. It is right that it was used. It was about a real political discussion on reopening the Ohrid Agreement [giving the Albanian minority greater local autonomy].

If the referendum had given a positive result, they would have had to reopen the legislation and renegotiate it. And the danger of unrest between the two ethnic groups would be bigger.

Both parties will grow together in a certain time. The background is the level of understanding of living together.

The groups that were proposing this referendum thought that the minorities were being given too much.

The fact that there was a low turn-out comes out of the background to the referendum. The question asked was a negative question.

I am optimistic. Macedonia started well in 1991. The conflict of 2001 was a setback but basically it does not have the same level of problem as in Bosnia and Hercegovina and Kosovo. Macedonia has the capacity to join countries like Croatia as quickly as possible.

The outcome is also helpful concerning Kosovo. If it had been approved, the referendum might have given an impetus to Albanians in Macedonia.

Question answered by Erhard Busek, Special Coordinator of the Stability Pact for South East Europe.

• Primary Source

Election-Guide.org: Macedonia: Referendum, 7 November 2004: Results Summary http://www.ifes.org/eguide/resultsum/macedonia_ref04.htm

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