Macedonia 1991
Macedonia followed Slovenia and Croatia when it adopted a new constitution and declared independence from the ailing Yugoslav Federation in 1991. The disintegration of the Yugoslav Federation after the collapse of Communism and fears of Serb domination led the Macedonian government to push for a sovereign state.
As with the other former Yugoslav republics, the Soviet-style constitution functioned as an interim constitution after being amended by the Communist parliament. Of the amendments passed, the amendment approved on September 6, 1990 is particularly significant as it introduced a presidency and a 120-seat legislature. In accordance with these amendments and as part of the transition to a multi-party democracy, the first multiparty elections for a new parliament were held in November 1990. The new parliament elected Macedonia’s first president, Kiro Gligorov, in January 1991.
Gligorov favored a sovereign Macedonia and, in early May 1991, proposed that a new constitution should be adopted. The Constitutional Committee of the Republican Assembly, a subcommittee of parliament, prepared a draft constitution over a period of four months. Parliamentary debate arose on the draft’s failure to give the ethnic Albanians the status of a people. Despite the polemic debate, the parliament endorsed the proposed version of the draft constitution on August 23, 1991. In a public referendum held on September 8, 1991, 95% of those who voted favored Macedonian independence. Ethnic Albanians boycotted the referendum in protest against their perceived inferior constitutional status. In early October, the Constitutional Committee adopted a final draft of the new constitution. The final draft went before the parliament for final debate and voting on November 10, 1991. The parliament postponed voting on the proposed constitution after deputies of Albanian parties walked out. The deputies walked out in protest of the passage of an amendment which defined Macedonia as the mother country of the Macedonian people. On November 17, 1991, after ten days of debate, the parliament approved the final draft with the amendment intact. Ninety-six of the 120 deputies voted for the constitution. Deputies of Albanian parties and three deputies from other parties voted against it. The constitution took effect on November 21, 1991 when Macedonia declared its independence.
On January 6, 1992, Macedonia amended its constitution to comply with European Community rules for recognition and to clarify that it had no intention of creating a "Greater Macedonia" that would include provinces from Greece and Bulgaria.
Note: Though Macedonia declared independence in 1991, due to political turmoil with Greece, the European Community and United Nations did not officially recognize Macedonia’s independence until 1993.