Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras (R) and Prime Minister of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) Zoran Zaev (L) attend a signing ceremony about bilateral name row, at Psarades, in the Prespes lake region of Greece, June 17, 2018. Greece and FYROM sealed a historic agreement on Sunday, putting an end to the dispute which started in 1991 over the use of the name Macedonia.

By Maria Spiliopoulou

ATHENS, Oct. 28 (Xinhua) -- Most Greeks still rejected the peace agreement which Greece struck with the Skopje government over the Macedonia name row, according to an opinion poll published in Sunday's local "Proto Thema" (Top Story) newspaper.

The survey, carried out by MARC polling firm, revealed that 64.5 percent of Greeks did not want to see the Greek parliament ratifying the deal.

Athens and Skopje reached the deal this June to resolve the long-standing dispute between the two neighboring countries over the use of the name Macedonia.

Under the agreement which was ratified by the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) and needs to be also approved by the Greek parliament in coming months, the small Balkan state will be renamed "Republic of North Macedonia".

The row started in 1991 when FYROM declared independence from Yugoslavia, choosing the name Macedonia, which is also the name of a northern Greek province.

Many Greeks are still worried that the use of the same name by the neighboring state could lead to territorial claims.

The poll also showed that Greece's main opposition conservative New Democracy (ND) party leads over the ruling Radical Left SYRIZA party. Should national elections were held on Sunday, ND would win the 31.2 percent of votes, while SYRIZA would garner 20 percent.

The center-Left Movement for Change (KINAL) would rank 3rd by garnering 7.1 percent of votes, followed by the far-Right "Chryssi Avghi" (Golden Dawn) party with 6.5 percent and the Greek Communist Party KKE with 6.2 percent of votes.

According to the same poll, the 72.2 percent of respondents said that they would prefer snap elections in case Panos Kammenos, the Defense Minister and leader of the Right-wing Independent Greeks, the junior partner in the coalition government, leaves the government.

Kammenos has repeatedly voiced publicly in recent months his objection to the deal between Athens and Skopje.

Kammenos has said his party will vote against the agreement and government ministers have implied that SYRIZA may seek to stay in power as a minority government. The government's term in office expires in September 2019.