Greek Foreign Minister Giorgos Katrougalos acknowledged that the Macedonia name treaty is what cost the Greek left its dominant political position and led to the major defeat in the European and municipal elections. Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras was forced to move the general elections several months forward after his major defeat to the conservative New Democracy party, which was driven largely by voters in the north of Greece, where the Macedonian isuse has always driven passions.

We knew that we will lose a number of votes because of Prespa, but this shows the worth of the Prime Minister who, as a national leader, understood the national interest of the country and placed it above his partisan interest, Katrougalos tried to put a positive spin on the defeat.

Four regions in the north of Greece – including two of the three named “Macedonia” – elected conservative governors in the first round of the elections, which is seen as evidence of how strongly the name issue affected the election results. But, Katrougalos pointed to other regions, such as the usually left leaning Attica, that also went for New Democracy despite not being usually invested in the Macedonian issue.

Tsipras refused to allow a referendum on the name issue, aware that a large majority of Greeks reject the proposal. He also failed to reach common ground with the opposition, and the treaty was pushed through Parliament with the support of smaller centrist groups, who were also wiped out in the elections.