Politicians, Political institutions

In March 2005, Czech citizens expressed the highest level of trust to the president of the country, who enjoyed confidence of 70 % of czech citizens. Trust in Senate was expressed by 22% of czech citizens, trust in Chamber of Deputies was expressed by 20% of czech citizens. Czech government’s position worsened a bit. Contemporary more than

a quarter of czech citizens trust to czech goverment. In March 2005 46% of czech citizens find regional councils trustworthy, 60 % of czech citizens find trustworthy local councils.

In February 2005, Czech citizens expressed the highest level of trust to the president of the country, who enjoyed confidence of 70 % of czech citizens. In comparism to previous month Czech goverment’s position slightly worsened, though it enjoys confidence from a third of czech citizens. In comparism to January 2005 the Chamber of Deputies registered more important fall of trustworthiness , when approximately a fifth of citizens trust to czech goverment according to our survey.

In January survey, CVVM investigated whether the respondents confide in selected constitutional bodies. This time the submitted list included the names of 26 politicians

(all members of the government, president, ombudsman, chairmen of Senate and Chamber of Deputies, chairmen of Parlament Parties and euro-commissioner Špidla).

Now it is president Václav Klaus, who is viewed as the most trustworthy person among our top politicians.

In January 2005 Czech citizens expressed the highest level of trust to the president of the country, when 7 out of 10 respondents expressed their confidence in him. Local councils were found trustworthy by almost two thirds of the interviewees and almost half of the polled citizens trusted their regional council. In comparison to the previous months, the government’s position got better, 34% of respondents expressed their trust in goverment.

In a research realized in December 2004 CVVM focused on attitude of czech public to Office of a General Ombudsman. Almost 7 out of 10 respondents answered a question correctly, that the Office of a general Ombudsman is represented by Otakar Motejl. Almost a quarter of respondents admitted to not to remember, who holds Office of an Ombudsman,

6% of responents chose wrong answer.The confidence in Office of General Ombudsman was expressed by almost a half of czech citizens.

In December 2004 Czech citizens expressed the highest level of trust to the president of the country, when three quarters of respondents expressed their confidence in him. Local councils were found trustworthy by more than a half of the interviewees (60%) and approximately two fifths of the polled citizens trusted in their regional council. The government’s position worsened again, 28% of respondents expressed their trust in goverment.

As a result of November survey czech citizens mostly evaluate present performance of president Vaclav Klaus positively .The best evaluated president activities are :how president cares of dignity and respect of his office (89%), how president represents Czech Republic in foreign countries (86%), how presidents fulfills his constitutional function (84%). 72 % of respondents evaluate authority of president Vaclav Klaus, 55 % of interviewees judge positively president‘s influence on internal politics‘ life.

In November survey of the Centra pro výzkum veřejného mínění (Public Opinion Research Centre), realised within the project Naše společnost 2004 (Our society 2004), we interrogated the respondents about how they trust the individual constitutional institutions.

In November 2004 Czech citizens expressed the highest level of trust to the president of the country, who enjoyed confidence of almost three quarters (73 %) of the respondents.

As ”definitely important” for quality discharge of a regional council member’s office people regard the candidate’s moral qualities, knowledge of the region’s problems, ability to solve conflicts, ability to express ideas and expert knowledge. As ”quite significant” qualifications for successful discharge of a regional council member’s office the respondents also regarded knowledge of foreign languages, good relations with central bodies, experience with work in public administration on municipal level, spirit of enterprise, administrative experience and university education.

As for opinions concerning the benefit of introducing self-governing regions the Czech public remained significantly ambivalent. Approximately one quarter of the interviewees believe that the introduction of self-governing regions, which have now been existing for four years, was proved right. However, approximately the same part of the respondents holds the very opposite view. Another quarter stated that this issue cannot be judged after such a short time period.