Politicians, Political institutions

Czech people attribute the highest level of trustworthiness to the president and local councils; that is what 6 out of 10 people declare. Four of ten people trust the Czech government and their regional council. After the significant September drop of the Czech citizens’ confidence in all the constitutional institutions (with the exception of the president of the republic) we registered a follow-up growth in their trust in these institutions.

In its September survey, the Public Opinion Research Centre asked the respondents the following question: ”How would you evaluate the activity of the following political parties and institutions within the period of the last twelve months? Please use marking system as used in schools, where one is the best and five is the worst mark.” The best results – with an average mark lower than 3 – were achieved by media and the president.

In the first half of September the president was regarded as trustworthy by 61%, Czech government by 29%, Chamber of Deputies by 22%, Senate by 21%, regional councils by 36% and local councils by 57% of the polled citizens. The last survey brought – with the exception of the president – a statistically quite significant drop of confidence in all the constitutional institutions. As far as the government is concerned, it is a long-term trend, because within the last 9 months the government has gradually lost 20 % of people, who initially considered it trustworthy.

In June 2003 the president enjoyed confidence of 63 % of citizens older than 15 years, the government was trusted by

5 %, Chamber of Deputies by 30 %, Senate by 26 %, their regional council by 41 % and their local council by 65 % of citizens. More than a half of Czech citizens (57 %) trusts the Supreme inspection authority and confidence prevails also in the cases of Public guardian of rights (trusted by 45 %, distrusted by 28 %) and Constitutional court (trusted by 47 %, distrusted by 34 %).

The absolute majority of citizens feel proud of the Czech Republic in connection with sport (91 %), culture (89 %), history (88 %) and a little less with science and technology (77 %). Other reasons as a source for feeling national esteem are seen only by a minority of the population: in case of armed forces it is 41 %, functioning of democracy or relation to foreigners 38 %, in case of political...

Stanislav Gross remains at the top of the chart (he enjoys confidence of 66% of the respondents), followed by president Václav Klaus (60%) and ministers Tvrdík (54%) and Buzková (52%). The 50 % public confidence limit was further surpassed only by the ex-president Havel (52%). In comparison with the January 2003 results there was a significant growth in public confidence in the case of president Klaus (+25 % points), ODS leader Topolánek (+7 %) and ministers Šimonovský and Škromach (both +5 %).

In April survey we were again asking about the level of inhabitants’ confidence in individual constitutional institutions. The results show that the president is trusted by 64%, government by 40%, Chamber of Deputies by 32% and Senate by 24% of the respondents. Regional councils are regarded as trustworthy by 40% and local councils by 63% of the respondents.

The best results – with an average mark lower than 3 – were achieved by media and the chairman of the Chamber of Deputies. The worst marks of all the monitored institutions were scored by the Senate, KSČM and US – DEU (average marks above the 3.5 level in all these cases). In comparison to last year’s survey there has been a relatively significant improvement in the trustworthiness level of media, Chamber of Deputies chairman, ODS and KSČM.

After the February drop in the public’s confidence in the government the level of its trustworthiness has grown again – in March Špidla’s Cabinet was trusted by 47 % and not trusted by 49 % of the respondents. Similar growth has been recorded also in the case of the Chamber of Deputies, which enjoyed confidence of 40 % and was distrusted by 54 % of the interviewees. The Senate is regarded as trustworthy by 27 % of the respondents, which matches its evaluations in 2001 and 2002.

None of the candidates, who in the beginning of February 2003 stood for the presidency, enjoyed strong public support. The number of supporters of any of the pretenders has not substantially surpassed the level of one third and in all cases these were outnumbered by their adversaries. Roughly the same level of preferences – a third of citizens – was achieved by candidates Petr Pithart, Otakar Motejl and Václav Klaus.