Macedonia’s ruling party VMRO-DPMNE leads in February opinion poll

By bne IntelliNews February 18, 2014

Ruling VMRO-DPMNE is the most popular political party in Macedonia, according to a survey conducted by Skopje-based Centre for Research and Analysis (CRA) on Feb 2-12, Kanal 5 TV broadcaster reported. The poll’s sample included 1,836 respondents.

Some 30.3% of the respondents said that they will vote for VMRO-DPMNE at the following parliamentary elections, Sitel TV broadcaster reported. VMRO-DPMNE is followed by the biggest opposition party SDSM (12.4%), the ethnic Albanian ruling coalition partner DUI (7.4%), the recently formed party GROM (4.7%) and the opposition ethnic Albanian party DPA (3.2%). Some 15% will not vote, while 24.5% did not know whom to choose.

A comparison of the latest survey with previous polls shows increasing support for VMRO-DPMNE and decreasing support for SDSM. Another notable development is the emergence of GROM as the fourth most popular political party in the Balkan country. GROM was founded by Macedonian politician Stevco Jakimovski in September 2013.

Meanwhile, according to the latest survey PM Nikola Gruevski (also the leader of VMRO-DPMNE) remains the most trusted party leader with a 32.4% support. He is followed by SDSM leader Zoran Zaev (11.2%), DUI leader Ali Ahmeti (6.9%) and DPA leader Menduh Thaci (3.3%).

Macedonia’s next presidential elections are scheduled for Apr 13.

Electoral preferences, %        
  CRA, Feb 2014 IDC, Jan 2014 IPIS, Oct 2013 CRA, Oct 2013
VMRO-DPMNE 30.3 26.1 23.7 31.1
SDSM 12.4 15.1 15.5 14.7
DUI 7.4 7.9 7.1 5.8
GROM 4.7 n/a n/a n/a
DPA  3.2 3.9 4.2 3.3
NDP n/a n/a 1.1 n/a
Do not know 24.5 n/a 23.8 24.6
Will not vote 15.0 15.3 22.4 13.0
Source: Dnevnik, MIA, Sitel        

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