Opinion Poll: Gap Narrows Between Macedonia's Parties

An opinion poll published on Monday suggested that the gap between the main ruling VMRO DPMNE and the opposition Social Democrats, SDSM has significantly narrowed while the number of undecided voters who could determine the outcome of the December 11 election is still high.

A total of 23.3 per cent of the survey's respondents said they would vote for the VMRO DPMNE party of former Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski while 19.4 per cent opted for the SDSM led by Zoran Zaev.

The difference of 3.9 per cent points between the two parties is significantly lower than the 11 per cent difference at the last early general elections held in 2014.

The opinion poll was carried out by M Prospect agency and commissioned by Telma TV and the Macedonian Center for International Cooperation, MCMS NGO.

The survey further suggests that the junior ruling Democratic Union for Integration, DUI, enjoys 6.6 per cent support among voters while the opposition Democratic Party of Albanians, DPA has 3.3 per cent support.

2.7 per cent of the respondents opted for the newly formed Albanian Besa party while 2.5 per cent said they would vote for the right-wing opposition alliance VMRO for Macedonia. All the other parties and alliances had lower ratings on the national level which would barely guarantee them a seat in the 123-member parliament.

One surprise was the 3.6 per cent score for the newly-formed ultra-leftist party Levica in the first electoral district, which includes the capital Skopje, which would make it eligible for one seat.

The percentage of undecided voters and those who refused to answer the question remains high, however. 15.1 percent said they were undecided while 17.6 per cent refused to answer. Together this...