Macedonian President’s Popularity Rises in Survey

Macedonian President Gjorge Ivanov | Photo by: EC

In October last year, 45,7 per cent of respondents to a survey had a positive opinion for Ivanov’s work. This September 53, 4 percent said he is doing a good job.

Just over one quarter, 28,1 per cent, had a negative opinion for Ivanov and 18,5  per cent offered no answer at the latest survey which analysed the popularity of the Head of State.

Vladimir Boznivski, an analyst at the IPIS, said that Ivanov, whose first political engagement was the presidential candidacy at the 2009 elections, is slowly gaining foothold in the local political scene and making a recognizable profile for himself.

“At the beginning, Ivanov was not identified as politician so his primary goal was to create his own political integrity. Now the people have recognized him in that role and are beginning to identify his activities and projects” Bozniovski told the local Utrinski Vesnik daily.

In previous polls, done shortly after his election, Ivanov had a low rating compared to other local politicians. His score was close to zero per cent in polls where respondants were asked to identify only one politician whom they trusted. However, some analysts explained the low score saying that the low score was due to almost all supporters of the ruling VMRO DPMNE choosing the party leader, Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski, as their favourite, thus overlooking Ivanov.

The latest survey was conducted on a representative sample of over 1,000 people and carried out from September 16-20.