57% of the Macedonians to Vote with "Yes" on the Referendum

Sofia, Bulgaria -

Results from a sociological survey done by the International Republican Institute reveal that the majority of Macedonian citizens want to resolve the dispute over the name of the Republic of Macedonia and the country to join NATO and the EU.

An absolute majority of respondents, 57%, said they favored entering the EU and NATO under the newly agreed name country of “Republic of North Macedonia”. The same percentage thinks that the benefits of this membership justify the change of name.

49% will participate in the September 30th referendum, 22% will vote against the change of the country's name. 83% support the entering of the Republic of Macedonia to the EU, and 77% - the NATO membership. This is a slight 2% increase from August 2017 and a 6% from March 2017.

Most respondents, 35%, said they think the country will join the EU in the next 1-5 years, while 27% think it will happen in the next 6-10 years and 17% think it could take 10+ years.

The survey involved 1,100 people aged 18 and over.