Macedonia Ruling Party Leads Opposition in Opinion Poll

If parliamentary elections were held tomorrow, 23.5 per cent of respondents would vote for the VMRO-DPMNE, followed by the opposition Social Democrats, SDSM, with 13 per cent, according to a telephone poll by the Institute for Political Research.

Macedonia's largest ethnic Albanian Party, the Democratic Union for Integration, DUI, would secure 7 per cent of the vote. The second largest ethnic Albanian Party, the Democratic Party of the Albanians, DPA, which is part of the ruling coalition, received the support of 3.2 per cent of respondents, while 27.7 per cent said they would not vote and 20.8 per cent failed to give an answer.

Following an opposition boycott of parliment, the Macedonian ruling party and the opposition recently agreed to hold early elections, but a date for the poll has not yet been set.

The survey-takers also asked respondents about the expected early elections. 55.1 per cent of those polled said that the snap polls should be held, 36.5 per cent are against the vote, while 8.4 percent do not respond.

When asked about which politician they trust the most, 24.1 per cent of respondents chose Prime Minister and VMRO-DPMNE head Nikola Gruevski, 9.2 per cent opposition leader Branko Crvenkovski, 6.9 per cent DUI head Ali Ahmeti. Menduh Thaci, Imer Selmani, and Rufi Osmani all received less than three per cent.

38.3 per cent of those polled said they did not trust any politicians in Macedonia.

When asked about the opposition's parliament boycott, 61.8 per cent of those surveyed said the move was not justified, while 26.4 per cent believe it is justified. 11.8 per cent chose not to answer.