Politicians, Political institutions

For several months already Czech citizens have been expressing the highest level of confidence in the president of our country. He is regarded as trustworthy by three quarters of the respondents. In our September survey the most significant rise of the level of confidence was recorded in case of the government, now trusted by more than a third of the respondents. The least trustworthy institutions are both chambers of the Parliament.

In June survey of the Public Opinion Research Centre we asked Czech citizens, besides other questions, also about how they trust the selected Czech and European institutions. The respondents might express their confidence or non-confidence with the help of the numerical range from 1 to 10 – 1 meaning that the interviewee does not trust the relevant institution at all and 10 on the contrary expressing absolute confidence.

For several months already Czech citizens have been expressing the highest level of confidence in the president of our country. In June survey he was regarded as trustworthy by almost three quarters of the respondents. A drop in the public’s confidence concerned according to our survey mainly the Czech government, now trusted by only a quarter of Czech citizens. The Chamber of Deputies and the Senate are regarded by the inhabitants of our country as even slightly less trustworthy.

In May survey, the Public Opinion Research Centre investigated whether the respondents confide in selected constitutional bodies. This time the submitted list included the names of 21 politicians (all members of the government, president, ombudsman, chairmen of Senate and Chamber of Deputies).

Now it is president Václav Klaus, who is viewed as the most trustworthy person among our top politicians. He enjoys confidence of seven out of ten respondents.

For several months already Czech citizens have been expressing the highest level of confidence in the president of our country. Czech government now enjoys the confidence of more than a third of the citizens and the Chamber of Deputies is trusted by more than a quarter of the respondents. According to them the Senate is currently the least trustworthy institution, trusted by only 23 % of the inhabitants.

In April 2004, Czech citizens expressed the highest level of confidence in the president of the country. Since Václav Klaus’ entering into office, the public’s confidence has been constantly growing and this growth has now apparently paused. In recent months the president of the republic has been enjoying confidence of approximately three quarters of Czechs. In April more than a half of the citizens also expressed confidence in their local council; the regional councils are regarded as trustworthy by 39 % of the respondents.

Several times in a year we interrogate Czech citizens about whether they confide in the selected political leaders. This time the submitted list included the names of 27 politicians, who hold prime positions within the parties represented in the Chamber of Deputies.

Besides ČSSD leaders Stanislav Gross (regarded as trustworthy by 58 % of the respondents) and prime minister Špidla (31 %) it is also Miroslav Topolánek (40 %) who features at the top of the popularity chart.

As in the previous months, in March 2004 Czech citizens expressed the highest level of confidence in the president of the country. The inhabitants’ confidence in the president has been growing constantly and currently he is regarded as trustworthy by more than three quarters of the interviewees, which is the highest score since his entering into office. More than a half of the citizens also expressed confidence in their local council; the regional councils are regarded as trustworthy by 44 % of the respondents.

In the February survey, the Public Opinion Research Centre extensively treated questions concerning the position of the president of CR. First of all we interrogated all the respondents about which electoral method is, according to their point of view, the most suitable for the Czech Republic.

The Czech public in general and also all the important subgroups of the population agree that the president of the republic should be elected by all voters.

As for the question about whom the president should be approaching directly during the discharge of his office, the public regards as trouble free contacts mainly communication with citizens in general (91 % yes, 7 % no) or – to a lesser extent – with socially weaker population groups (67 % yes, 25 % no). As far as the president’s direct contacts within the political sphere are concerned, the Czech public agrees largely on relations with the government coalition parties (72 % yes, 23 % no), the strongest political party (63 % yes, 31 % no) or opposition parties represented in the Parliament (61 % yes, 32 % no), but not so in the case of contacts with non-parliamentary opposition (40 % yes, 50 % no) or a party, which is politically closest to the president himself (33 % yes, 59 % no).