The International Republican Institute (IRI) which conducts several polls on public opinion throughout the year on different issues, there have been no announcements for pre-election poll ratings of political parties in Macedonia.
“For now, we have not planned a poll which we would publish before the forthcoming parliamentary elections, which are scheduled for December 11”, said Ilina Mangova, an IRI representative in Macedonia.
IRI polls are considered as one of the most accurate and most relevant surveys when it comes to ratings of political parties and the ratings they have for their leaders. The institute conducts research two or three times a year on the same issues, so when viewed in comparison to the years before, trends can be observed such as increases or decreases in certain sectors. In 2014, at the last parliamentary elections in Macedonia, IRI published four surveys.
The last four polls which IRI published were the ratings of political parties and were conducted in April and in January of this year, and in June and February of last year.
The last survey conducted by the IRI institute was published on June 9, and conducted from April 19 to April 25. According to the survey, 27% of respondents would vote for the VMRO-DPMNE, while 18% would vote for the SDSM, and 23% would not answer. 6% said they would vote for the DUI, while 3% said they would vote for the DPA, and 9 % of respondents said they would destroy their ballot.
That same survey found that 55% of citizens believed that the former Prime Minister and leader of VMRO-DPMNE, Nikola Gruevski, was not doing a good job and does not deserve to be re-elected, while 33% said he deserves again to be Prime Minister.
Support for the re-election of Gruevski which was at 33% fell nearly double compared to the support he had which stood at 66%, from the IRI survey conducted in 2008.
However, despite reduced support, according to the latest IRI survey, the politicians with the best ratings were Nikola Gruevski, who had 21%, while 9% of the respondents preferred Zoran Zaev and 4% voted for Ali Ahmeti.
