Macedonia Referendum Outlook
On 30 September 2018, the Macedonian electorate voted in a referendum over whether to accept the agreement between the Macedonian and Greek governments to change the name of the country to “North Macedonia”. The agreement was approved with 94.18% of votes cast; however, voter turnout amounted to 36.91%, the minimum threshold of 50% for the outcome to be viewed as valid. The result reflected a deep dissatisfaction with and/or apathy towards the agreement on the part of the electorate, which had not been taken into account by media commentary and government expectations in the USA and EU.