Low turnout sinks Macedonia referendum

SKOPJE, Macedonia -- A referendum bid to block a law that gives Macedonia's Albanian minority more rights failed yesterday, upholding the Western-brokered peace plan that ended ethnic fighting in 2001.

In a result expected to please Washington and Brussels, independent monitors of the MOST agency said turnout was 26.3 percent, half the 50 percent it needed to be valid.

"The required turnout of 50 percent has not been met," conceded Stojan Andov, leader of the opposition Liberal Party, which was among the backers of the referendum.

The European Union and the United States had made it plain to Macedonians that the EU and NATO membership their government seeks would hinge on the referendum failing.

In a boost to moderates, Washington last week recognized the country's chosen name, Macedonia, overruling years of Greek refusal to let them use the name of Greece's northern province. It called the move "a reward" for progress made.

Albanian opponents of the referendum welcomed the result.

"The people have demonstrated that they are willing to live in a multiethnic state, which promotes European values and concepts," said Emira Mehmeti, spokeswoman for the ethnic Albanian Democratic Union Party, a coalition partner in Macedonia's multiethnic government.

No violence was reported, but nationalist organizers of the vote accused the Socialist-led coalition government, which includes former Albanian guerrillas, of cheating.

"In 20 percent of the country, polling stations were not opened at all," said Todor Petrov of the World Macedonian Congress, which initiated a petition and collected 180,000 signatures to enforce the referendum call. "I'll not accept this result. We will demand that the Supreme Court declares it irregular."

But Nikola Gruevski, leader of the main, right-wing opposition party VMRO-DPMNE, tacitly conceded failure.

He said 500,000 people had backed the referendum, or less than 30 percent, but still urged the government to "hear the voice of the people and change the law."

The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, which fielded 200 monitors, said it would comment on the fairness of the referendum today.

The law at issue is a key part of the Western-brokered Ohrid peace plan that quelled an Albanian guerrilla insurgency after seven months of clashes with government forces in 2001.

The rebels disarmed and disbanded. But in a brief appearance hinting the guns could come out again if the referendum had passed, two armed men in guerrilla uniforms talked to reporters near the capital Skopje yesterday.

The new law, already passed by Parliament, redraws local boundaries and gives the 25 percent Albanian minority more say over schools, health, and jobs in the 16 municipalities they will control. It makes Albanian an official language in areas where Albanians top 20 percent.

Opponents say this will split the country. Macedonia's stability is crucial to the Balkans ahead of talks next year on potential independence for neighboring Kosovo.

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