November 2004

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MACEDONIA: ALBANIAN LANGUAGE TO BECOME OFFICIAL IN CERTAIN AREAS AFTER REFERENDUM

November 2004 – The referendum held on 7 November in order to vote against the recently passed Law on Territorial Organisation failed after low turnout. Voter turnout was just over 26%, thus far from reaching the minimum percentage of 50% in order for it to become valid. This controversial law was passed on 11 August after long discussions as an important step towards the implementation of the 2001 Ohrid peace agreement, which ended interethnic conflict between the ethnic Albanian rebels of the National Liberation Army (UCK) and the Macedonian security forces. The agreement foresaw redistricting and decentralisation plans, finally shaped in the Law on Territorial Organisation, increasing the rights for the country’s Albanian minority, which makes up almost a quarter of the total population, as it gives them an increased role in local government. However, many ethnic Macedonians fear that the law will lead to the federalisation of the country along ethnic lines, while minor ethnic Albanian opposition parties accuse the ethnic Albanian major party in the government coalition of not doing enough to protect Albanian interests.

One of the factors that lead to such low voter turnout was that the governing coalition, which called for a boycott for the referendum, received strong support from the international community. Representatives of the EU, for instance, called on the Macedonian citizens not to participate in the referendum, in order not to delay the road towards European integration. The OSCE, the NATO and states like the United States and France made similar calls.

With the new legislation (for the moment only available in Macedonian language) administrative boundaries have been redrawn and, as a result, Albanian has become the second official language in certain areas, including the capital Skopje, where two rural districts with an Albanian majority (Saraj and Kondovo) have been added to the existing urban districts. This has been possible on account of a series of constitutional amendments from November 2001 strengthening minority rights, particularly amendment no. 5, which stipulated a threshold of 20% of district minority population in order to introduce the language spoken by that minority as a second official language. This means that not only the city administration of Skopje and other districts will be bilingual, but also road signs and signs marking official buildings. Furthermore, in such municipalities the right to use Albanian in communication with the local administration will also be provided.

In connection with the referendum, the Macedonian Parliament voted in August to postpone local elections by one month, rescheduling them from 17 October to 21 November. They will be regulated by the also recently adopted Law on Local Elections, passed on 3 August. This new legislation, to be published in Mercator-Legislation’s next Bulletin, includes several references to minority language issues “in the local self-government units where 20% of the citizens speak an official language different from Macedonian” (Articles 16, 19, 25, 31, 50 and 54), affecting for instance the list of candidates for mayor, the public announcement of the conduct of elections or the ballot.