Macedonia's prime minister has said that the decision on whether to change Macedonia's name should be made through a referendum, news reaching here from Skopje reported on Monday.
"We will not allow any name or compromise imposed by Greece to be accepted by certain politicians without asking the people first through a referendum," Nikola Gruevski told a rally of his supporters on Sunday in Skopje.
Macedonia has set June 1 for early elections after the country's NATO membership was blocked by Greece over the 17-year-long name dispute between the two countries earlier last month at a NATO summit in Romania.
Greece has been opposed to its neighbor being called the "Republic of Macedonia," arguing it implies a territorial claim over a Greek northern province also called Macedonia.
At a meeting chaired by the country's President Branko Crvenkovski last month, it was agreed by political parties that the name issue shouldn't be exploited in their pre-election campaign.
A newly released survey, conducted by Macedonia's Institute for Democracy on May 3-4, shows that Prime Minister Gruevski's party VMRO-DPMNE enjoys the highest rating at 29.2 percent, and that his popularity stands at 29.5 percent, far ahead of other politicians in Macedonia.
Source:Xinhua
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