a Western-inspired law that gives the ethnic Albanian minority more local autonomy.
A ruling party official, Social Democratic Union spokesman Boris Kondarko, said voter turnout was far below the required 50 percent to make the ballot valid. He said "25 to 27 percent" of Macedonia’s 1.7 million voters bothered to participate in the referendum on whether a new law should go into force that redraws local boundaries and cuts the number of municipalities from 123 to 84.
The outcome came as a political victory for pro-Western Prime Minister Hari Kostov who backed the law, which was already approved by parliament but could only be implemented if the referendum failed. "Failure to implement the law will trigger a political crisis," he said recently.
Macedonia’s government will now be able to carry out the legislation giving ethnic Albanians, who make up roughly 25 percent of the population, more say over schools, health care and jobs in the 16 municipalities they will control.
ALBANIAN LANGUAGE
The law also makes Albanian an official language in areas where Albanians top 20 percent of residents. These regions include the Macedonian capital, Skopje, where street signs are to be shown in Albanian and Macedonian.
The measures are part of a Western brokered peace plan that ended seven months of inter ethnic fighting in 2001.
But nationalist opponents of the law, who organized the referendum, say the legislation will divide the country along ethnic lines and lead to the break up of Macedonia.
WESTERN INTEGRATION
Western diplomats contend however it will speed up Macedonia’s integration into institutions such as NATO and the European Union, and could avoid all out civil war.
Although no violence was reported during the referendum, there has been international concern that former ethnic Albanian guerilla’s still have many weapons, despite Western backed efforts to collect them.
Analysts claim the decision by the United States on Thursday to recognize the country by its constitutional name, the Republic of Macedonia, helped to ease ethic tensions. However the U.S.- move enraged neighboring Greece, which insists its Northern province of Macedonia has a monopoly on the name.
