Hours after the ruling SDSM published a poll from a Bulgarian pollster close to SDSM declaring it themselves in the lead ahead of the October 17th local elections, a poll by the Organization for civic activism and independence releasd its own poll.

According to this poll, conducted in the first week of September over 1,149 citizens, VMRO-DPMNE leads ahead of SDSM with 19.9 percent of the vote against 15.7 percent. VMRO leader Hristijan Mickoski also scored ahead of SDSM leader Zoran Zaev in the trustworthiness index, with 15.9 percent against 13.4 percent.

The poll also shows that the Albanian parties allied with VMRO, AA and the Alternative, are virtually tied with SDSM’s partner DUI. AA and Alternative ranked at 8.5 percent and DUI scored 8.7 percent. This poll is mostly conducted before the catastrophic Tetovo hospital fire, which raised serious questions about the corruption and competence of the Zaev regime.

The poll shows that the populist Levica party can count on just under 5 percent of the vote.