Politicians, Political institutions

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).

In the February survey of the Public Opinion Research Centre we focused on the Czech public views concerning the work and competencies of the president of CR. First we were interested in the citizens’ opinions concerning what the primary activities of the president should be. It was an open question (without any suggested answers) and the respondents had the opportunity to mention up to three fields, which – according to their opinion – should be prioritised by the president.

In February 2004 Czech citizens expressed the highest level of confidence in the president of the country (71 %). The lowest number of the respondents expressed confidence in the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate. Both institutions are now trusted by only a fifth of the respondents. Compared to January 2004 there was a significant drop in the level of the public’s confidence in the Czech government (it is currently regarded as trustworthy by 26 % of citizens).

At present 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 and since our last survey in October of last year his credibility has grown of 14 % points together with parallel drop of 13 % points as far as the number of people, who do not trust him, is concerned. Václav Klaus has for the first time reached the first rank on our imaginary rank, outrunning the permanently highly evaluated minister Gross.

January survey of CVVM focused – among other issues – on the evaluation of Vladimír Špidla’s coalition government. In this respect it was investigated the citizens’ satisfaction with the declared government programme, government activities, its communication with the wide public and its members. Majority of the respondents expressed discontent in all the monitored aspects. Relatively the highest level of satisfaction concerns the declared programme, which was approved by two fifths of the interviewees, while almost a half of them (48 %) declared discontent with it.

In January 2004 the work of the government was evaluated positively by 27 % of the respondents and negatively by 66 %. Only one year ago this proportion of positive and negative answers was almost the opposite: in January 2003 the government was evaluated positively by 48 % and negatively by 39 % of interviewees. The substantial drop in government work evaluation occurred in between January and June 2003.

According to the survey of constitutional institutions realised in mid-January, the highest level of confidence of Czech citizens belongs to the president – he is trusted by 72 % of the respondents. The government enjoys confidence of more than a third of the respondents (37 %). People show the lowest level of confidence in the Senate (20 %) and the Chamber of Deputies (26 %). Regional councils are trusted by 41 % and local councils by 61 % of citizens.

Most of Czech citizens already traditionally trust in the president of the republic (66 %). On the contrary, the lowest level of confidence belongs to the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies, which are currently trusted by only about one fifth of the respondents. Compared to November there was a significant drop in the level of the public’s confidence in the government (-6 % points), now trusted by 29 % of the interviewees.

This time the interviewees were expressing their confidence in leaders of the political parties represented in the Chamber of Deputies. At the top of the popularity chart Miroslav Topolánek appeared in between ČSSD representatives Stanislav Gross and Vladimír Špidla. These are followed by the new KDU-ČSL leader Miroslav Kalousek, the Chamber of Deputies chairman Lubomír Zaorálek, KDU-ČSL members Jan Kasal and Foreign Affairs minister Cyril Svoboda.