The Flag and the Coat of Arms of the Republic of Macedonia according the working group in 1992

With the independence of the Republic of Macedonia, a need arose for determining the coat of arms, the flag, and the anthem. The process actually started with public competition for the selection of their content/design. Proposals for a law were then presented, followed by a series of amendments to the design of the coat of arms and the flag, with the anthem remaining unchanged.

The Constitution of the Republic of Macedonia, adopted 17 November 1991, did not determine the state symbols, but prescribed that the coat of arms, the flag, and the anthem of the Republic of Macedonia are determined by law, and according to the constitutional law, the state symbols should be adopted within six months of the proclamation of the Constitution.

On 26 December the Assembly of the Republic of Macedonia adopted instructions for the preparation and adoption of the Law on the coat of arms, the flag, and the anthem of the Republic of Macedonia and adopted a timetable according to which the public competition would be held in January 1992; the Draft Law would be unveiled in March for public discussion through the end of the month; the report of the public discussion would be considered in April; and the Law would be adopted by 20 May at the latest. The working group for the implementation of the procedure for selecting design for the coat of arms, flag, and anthem of the Republic of Macedonia was in place on 20 March, when the timetable was tightened, with the aim of passing the law by 20 May.

The Commission for Constitutional Affairs was obliged to undertake all the activities: to prepare text of the Proposal for passing a law on the coat of arms, the flag, and the anthem of the Republic of Macedonia; to conduct a public competition for their designs; and to establish a working group for the selection of designs. In addition, the working group included members of the Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts in the fields of science, fine arts, and music. The jury for determining the coat of arms and flag comprised Aneta Svetieva—ethnologist, Aleksandar Cvetkovski—artist, Kosta Balaban—art historian, and Dimitar Kondovski—artist (Aleksandar Matkovski was also proposed for the jury).

The working group, with a strong majority, proposed the flag and coat of arms of FENIKS 92: On a red field a white triangle whose base is the hoist and whose point is the center of the fly. For the coat of arms red lion on gold field. (Дарковска 1992a). The authors of FENIKS 92 were Kostadin Tanchev –Dinkata and Vladimir Borojevik.

The Commission decided on 8 June to propose as the anthem “Today Over Macedonia”. The next day, it decided that the flag and the coat of arms would be red with a yellow sun and, outside of the original framework of the competition, asked the designers to come up with new designs. On June 17, proposals for a red flag and coat of arms with a sun with 32 rays in white and yellow variants were ready.

Jovan Jonovski, “Review оf the Process of Adoption of the State Symbols of the Republic of Macedonia in 1992”, Macedonian Herald 12, 2019.