Macedonia PM Defies Low Turnout to Push Name Change

AFP - Macedonia's government vowed Monday to push ahead with changing the country's name to appease Greece and build ties with the West, but opponents said low turnout in a referendum on the move made it illegitimate.

Premier Zoran Zaev wants to rename the Balkan state North Macedonia to end a long-running row with Athens and open a path to EU and NATO membership.

More than 90 percent of those who voted in Sunday's referendum supported the name-change, but only a third of the electorate turned out, results showed.

"More than 90 percent of the total votes are 'yes', so now it is parliament's turn to confirm the will of the majority," Zaev told AFP.

But the head of the right-wing opposition VMRO-DPMNE party, Hristijan Mickoski, pointed to the low turnout, saying the government had "lost its legitimacy".

He said voters had responded to calls to boycott the referendum. He called on the government to "respect the will of the people".

President Gjorge Ivanov, allied with the opposition, also weighed in, claiming "the people have rejected the accord" with Greece.

- New elections? -

Zaev and his Greek counterpart Alexis Tsipras agreed in June on the name North Macedonia to end a decades-long dispute.

Greece has its own northern province named Macedonia and has accused its northern neighbour of territorial ambitions.

In return for adopting the new name, Athens would drop its long-standing objections to the Balkan country joining the European Union and NATO.