MACEDONIA: Macedonian nationalists cried foul yesterday after the referendum they hoped would withhold powers from the country's Albanian minority appeared doomed to failure.
After 10 hours of polling, independent monitors said that only about 20 per cent of the Balkan nation had gone to the ballot boxes, far short of the 50 per cent required to validate the poll.
Supporters of the referendum accused the government of resorting to fraud to keep alive a western-backed plan to give Albanians more say in education, health and economic development programmes in areas where they have a strong presence.
"In 20 per cent of the country, polling stations were not opened at all," alleged Mr Todor Petrov of the World Macedonian Congress. This body opposes a law seen as central to the peace plan that dragged Macedonia back from the brink of civil war in 2001, after seven months of fighting between government forces and Albanian guerrillas.
"The government should be aware of the consequences of this illegal action," Mr Petrov warned, accusing the Socialist-led coalition - which includes a party led by former Albanian rebels - of falsifying the referendum result.
Critics say the plan would split the nation of 2.2 million along ethnic lines, and lead to calls for the creation of a "Greater Albania" with Albania and Kosovo - a scenario that could stir up long-standing territorial grievances nursed by Greece and Bulgaria. But its supporters, which include the United Nations, the US and the European Union, say the only way for Macedonia to move towards its stated ambition of EU- and NATO-membership is to forge a peaceful, multi-ethnic democracy.
Though Macedonia's Albanian guerrillas gave up arms and vowed to pursue their aims politically, few doubt that many weapons were simply hidden and would reappear if simmering tension sparked more violence.
Some armed Albanians were reported to be patrolling villages close to the capital, Skopje, yesterday, in a show of defiance towards Macedonian authorities that they accuse of foot-dragging over promised reforms.
Days before the referendum, Washington recognised the country's right to call itself Macedonia, despite protests from Athens that the name should only apply to a region of northern Greece in which Alexander the Great was born.