The Macedonian public television MRTV said it will present the full IPIS poll on Thursday. According to the summary published today, the opposition VMRO-DPMNE party enjoyed a comfortable 24-21.5 lead over SDSM even after adding the votes of the small Albanian BESA party to SDSM’s numbers.

SDSM and BESA are preparing a pre-election coalition for the vote that is scheduled on April 12, but may likely be postponed due to the coronavirus. Predictably, the poll showed VMRO with a large 28 to 20 percent lead over SDSM among ethnic Macedonians, with SDSM having to rely on ethnic minorities to reduce the margin of defeat among its core supporters. Among the traditionally ethnic Albanian parties, DUI leads the coalition made up of the Alliance of Albanians and Alternative with 4.8 percent to 4.4 percent of the vote.

The IPIS summary was published on the same day as the new IRI poll. It showed VMRO and SDSM largely tied with Zaev’s approval for a second term more than 20 points under water. The poll also showed a souring of the electorate regarding the prospects of ever joining the European Union and the direction Macedonia is going.