The latest round of IPIS-MRTV polls, conducted with the presidential candidates already known to the public, confirms that VMRO-DPMNE holds a 2:1 lead over SDSM.
The poll showed that VMRO-DPMNE beats SDSM with 19.5 percent against 10.5 percent in the 2nd electoral district, that covers what is supposed to be the SDSM stronghold of Kumanovo. Among the Albanian parties in the region, DUI has 6.9 percent, against 4.8 percent for the opposition bloc. ZNAM, party led by Kumanovo Mayor Maksim Dimitrievski who left SDSM, has 5 percent support and Levica ranks at 4 percent.
Among the presidential candidates, Gordana Siljanovska – Davkova, supported by VMRO-DPMNE, has the support of 21 percent of the citizens of this north-eastern district, and SDSM’s candidate Stevo Pendarovski is supported by 12.4 percent. DUI’s Bujar Osmani got 6.9 percent, Dimitrievski has 6.6 percent and Arben Taravari for the opposition Albanian bloc – 5.2 percent.
The poll, that was presented this evening, also covered the 6th electoral district, which is an outlier, as the only majority Albanian district in Macedonia. There, DUI is projected to win with 17.5 percent of the vote, closely followed by the opposition bloc that holds the two main mayoral positions in this region – Tetovo and Gostivar – with 15.4 percent. The Alliance of Albanians, whose leader Taravari supports the opposition but faces factions within the party, got 7.2 percent of the vote, indicating a dead heat between the two main Albanian groups.
VMRO-DPMNE again leads SDSM 2:1, with 8.5 percent of the vote against 4 percent for SDSM. The votes for the presidential candidates correspond to those for the parties: Osmani has 21.4 percent, Taravari has 20.8 percent, Siljanovska has 9.2 percent and Pendarovski – 5.1 percent.
Following their convention this weekend, SDSM adopted a practice to denounce the polls as fake and biased. SDSM leader Dimitar Kovacevski and Pendarovski insist that they have seen other polls with different results, but are not producing them. Kovacevski was recently engaged in public attacks on the media outlets who report these polls, or call out his party’s corruption and incompetence.
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