The question posed to voters was: “Are you in favor of membership in NATO and European Union by accepting the deal between (the) Republic of Macedonia and Republic of Greece?”

Critics of the name change include President Gjorge Ivanov, who has called the agreement with Greece a “flagrant violation of sovereignty.”

“We don’t recognize any other Macedonia but Macedonia. Macedonia’s electoral commission has announced that the Sunday referendum to change the Balkan country’s name to the Republic of Northern Macedonia has failed to pass the necessary 50 percent turnout threshold. President Gjorge Ivanov has said he will not be voting in the referendum and a boycott campaign has cast doubts on whether turnout will meet the minimum 50 percent required for the referendum to be valid. The vast majority of those who voted in Sunday referendum in Macedonia supported the plan to rename the country and thereby end a decadeslong spat with Greece and unlock a path to EU and NATO membership, but low turnout compromised the results of the referendum. Greece reacted to the result with the Foreign Ministry saying it "remains committed" to its June agreement with Skopje under which Athens would drop its objections to Macedonia joining the EU and NATO in return for a change of name,

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras expressed his support for his Macedonian counterpart in a telephone call in which he hailed the "determination and courage" of Zoran Zaev to "complete the implementation of this agreement." “There will be no better agreement with Greece, nor an alternative for NATO and the EU.”

Zaev said he would seek to secure the required two-thirds majority of the 120-seat parliament by next week for the constitutional changes. Half an hour before polls were to close, voter turnout stood at 34 percent, according to the Associated Press. With ballots from 80 percent of polling stations counted, 91.2 percent of votes were in favor of the name changing to North Macedonia, compared to 5.6 percent opposing the move, according to the electoral commission's official count.
A referendum is held in the Republic of Macedonia on whether to change the country's name in order to join NATO and the EU.