A polling company linked with the ruling SDSM party – Stratum – published a new poll showing that SDSM is allegedly in the lead ahead of the coming local elections. According to the poll, SDSM ranks at 26.2 percent, followed by VMRO-DPMNE with 24.1 percent and the populist Levica party with 11.7 percent. The poll also places “independent lists” at 12 percent.

VMRO-DPMNE responded with a press release pointing at the fact that Stratum manager Vesna Kuzmanovic is an adviser of Zoran Zaev. The company is also the recipient of funding from the Innovation Fund – a notoriously politicized institution that is used to finance companies linked to SDSM under the guise of grants for “innovative practices and technological solutions”.