Referendum: 1,725 applications Filed by diaspora Members so far

Until Tuesday at noon, 1,725 applications were filed by diaspora members for participation in the name referendum, scheduled for 30 September. 1,612 applications have been accepted, 27 have been rejected, while the rest are being processed. Until Monday, 3,996 citizens in Macedonia had conducted insight into the voter list. French Ambassador to Macedonia Christian Thimonier paid a visit to the State Election Commission (SEC) and expressed interest in, among others, how ready the SEC is to hold the referendum. As far as the cost of the government’s campaign is concerned, the Defence Ministry is the only institution that has said how much funds it will allocate from its budget (around one million euros). VMRO-DPMNE is critical of Minister Radmila Sekerinska’s decision. According to the opposition party, the amount should instead be used to help soldiers’ transport problems. “The amount can be used to cover more than 33% of the Army’s annual transport for all 45 destinations. However, Sekerinska has decided to give this money for promotion of the capitulatory deal to change the name,” VMRO-DPMNE’s Aleksandar Nacev points out. SDSM responded to the accusations, once again urging Hristijan Mickoski’s party to voice a stand on the referendum. “We are 40 days away from the referendum in which citizens will decide on the future, but VMRO-DPMNE and Mickoski are the only ones without a clear stand on the most important matters in the history of Macedonia as an independent country,” the ruling party noted. VMRO-DPMNE Sec Gen Igor Janushev responded by saying that the consultations over the referendum issue were still underway.