SKOPJE (AFP) - Macedonia`s three-year peace process faced one of its biggest hurdles as voters went to the polls in a referendum called by opponents of EU-backed laws designed to empower the ethnic Albanian minority.
The VMRO-DPMNE opposition party and more than 30 other groups want to throw out the legislation, which would change municipal boundaries in the former Yugoslav republic to give ethnic Albanians more say over their affairs.
The laws are the last step in the implementation of the internationally brokered Ohrid peace agreement which ended seven months of fighting between government forces and ethnic Albanian guerrillas in 2001.
But the legislation sparked riots by the Macedonian majority when it was introduced in early August, amid fears it would lead to ethnic-based federalisation or even renewed conflict.
The government, including the main ethnic Albanian party in the ruling coalition, has called for a boycott. Turnout of more than 50 percent is required for the vote to be declared valid.
Prime Minister Hari Kostov has also threatened to resign if the referendum succeeds, saying the reforms are vital to Macedonia`s bid to join the European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO).
The EU formally opened accession talks with Macedonia last month. European officials have backed the boycott, telling Macedonia`s 1.7 million voters to "stay at home" and warning that it would derail accession to the EU and NATO.
Polling stations in mainly Christian Macedonian areas were experiencing steady business in the first hours of voting but in Muslim Albanian villages the boycott appeared total.
"This law isn`t good for the country and could provoke the ethnic cleansing of Macedonians," said ethnic Macedonian legal assistant Najm Naumov, 64, outside a polling station in Skopje.
Ethnic Albanians account for about 25 percent of Macedonia`s two million people.
"I`m not going to vote because I don`t have time and it`s not good for the state. The referendum will make ethnic relations worse and the country will go backwards," said ethnic Albanian grocer Fadil Sulejman, 32.
Electoral commission spokesman Zoran Tanevski said voting was going smoothly. "Except for a few minor problems everything is going according to the law," he told AFP.
The question being asked in the referendum is whether voters accept the previous municipal boundaries. If the `Yes` vote gains a majority the government will have to amend the legislation and re-submit it to parliament.
Critics argue that the new boundaries are an arbitrary exercise in gerrymandering which were bulldozed through parliament without proper public consultation.
Under the legislation, ethnic Albanians will gain majorities in the towns of Struga and Kicevo, in the mainly ethnic Albanian west of the country, while Albanian will become the second official language in the capital Skopje.
The government was given a major boost Thursday when the United States announced it would recognise the country of two million people by its constitutional name, the Republic of Macedonia.
The US move enraged Greece, which insists its northern province of Macedonia has a monopoly on the name, but it has been cause for national celebration on the streets of Skopje.
And the partying continued overnight Saturday after the government relaxed bar closing times for the occasion.
Opposition groups criticised President Branko Crvenkovski for addressing a rally overnight in the capital, during the 48-hour electoral silence period before the referendum.
Crvenkovski told a small group of government supporters that Macedonia offered a "hand of friendship" to neighbouring Greece.
11/07/2004 - 12:52 GMT - AFP