Poll Predicts VMRO-DPMNE Victory in Macedonia

The poll, carried out by a Skopje-based think tank, the Institute for Democracy, and a civil association, the Macedonian Center for International Cooperation, shows the ruling party on double the support of the main opposition Social Democrats.

Just over 22 per cent of respondents said they would vote for VMRO-DPMNE while only 10 per cent said they would support the main opposition party.
 
Another 5 per cent said they would vote for the junior ruling party, the ethnic Albanian Democratic Union for Integration, DUI, while another 1.9 per cent said they would support the ethnic Albanian opposition party, the Democratic Party of Albanians, DPA.

A total of 28.1 per cent said they would not vote at all, while 16.4 had not decided.

Asked why they would not vote, 39 per cent of the abstainers said they felt disappointed with all political parties, while 11 per cent said they were simply not interested in politics. 

According to the survey, Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski remains by far the most trusted politician in the country. Almost 20 percent of respondents said they trusted him the most, while only 4.6 per cent said they most trusted the Social Democrat leader, Branko Crvenkovsk.

Another 4.3 percent opted for Ali Ahmeti, the head of the DUI, and 2.9 per cent expressed trust in Radmila Shekerisnka, the Social Democratic candidate for the post of Prime Minister.

Of the rest, Rufi Osmani, mayor of Gostivar and head of a newly formed Albanian party, National Democratic Rebirth, got 2.3 per cent, Imer Selmani of the New Democracy party got 1.7 per cent and Menduh Thaci of the DPA got 1.6 per cent.

Some 47 per cent of respondents said they trusted no one, while over 13 per cent did not know who they trusted, or refused to answer. The telephone survey was carried out in late April on a representative sample of some 1,100 respondents.