The largest share of Macedonian citizens, 41.5%, will vote yes in the referendum on the name agreement with Greece that will be held on September 30, according to a survey released on August 7.

The referendum is a crucial step in the implementation of the name deal with Greece signed on June 17, which will rename the country North Macedonia, thereby unblocking the country’s EU and Nato integration processes.

The citizens will be asked Are you for EU and Nato integration by supporting the agreement between Republic of Macedonia and Republic of Greece?

According to the survey, released by the Macedonian Center for International Cooperation (MCMS) 35.1% of those polled will vote against the name deal.

In terms of ethnic groups, ethnic Albanians mostly support the agreement, with 88% of them in favour and only 2.2% against. Among Macedonians, the support is lower at 27.4%, while 45.2% plan to reject the deal, according to the survey.

66.4% of those surveyed will vote in the referendum, which is enough for the plebiscite to be successful, while 19.8% plan to boycott it.

The survey was conducted between July 24 and August 1 by the agency M-prospekt.

Macedonia’s main opposition party VMRO-DPMNE is against the deal and the referendum question, but has not said clearly so far whether it will boycott the referendum.

Recently, 28 Macedonian rightwing political parties and NGOs led by the small pro-Russian United Macedonia party have launched a campaign to boycott the referendum on the name deal with Greece.

Macedonian Social Democrat Prime Minister Zoran Zaev said he will resign if a majority votes vote no in the referendum.