Political

About three fifths of citizens perceive Senate as useless institution, which establishment was wasting of money, on contrary more than a fourth of Czech population do not agree with it. More than a half of Czech citizens agree with statement that establishment of the Senate was supported by political parties just to fortify their position, on the other hand only a quarter of respondents denied that.

In November survey we questioned respondents about their participation in municipal elections to Local Councils and also we asked them whether they knew the candidates and whether they preferred candidates from political Parties or non – party candidates. More than two thirds of respondents told us that they participated in elections. The real election participation was 46, 38 %. This difference can be caused by the fact, that the public opinion research is made by personal interview, which means that a part of people who deny making a talk is unavailable for those surveys and there is also a fact, that people when talking about some subjects tend to talk in their own style which is not always the same as they really act.

In CVVM survey which was made within project Our society 2006 in October 2006 we asked our respondents a question whether they trust to constitutional institutions. Question about public confidence in constitutional institutions is regular part of CVVM surveys which help us to monitor public confidence during time. In the long term president of our country has been the most trustworthy Czech constitutional institution.

In November survey CVVM investigated how people trust to political Parties and whether they are willing to take part in elections to Chamber of Deputies. In the press release there are two different types of information : Party preference and a model of voting behaviour.

Party preferences give us information about public sympathy with political Parties in the group of citizens who have voting right and there is also included a part of citizens who will not take part in elections or they do not knot who to vote for.

In October CVVM SOÚ AV ČR made a survey on the attitudes of Czech citizens to day 17 November and public opinions on social conditions nowadays and before 1989.

More than a half of respondents commemorate national holiday on 17 November but they do not celebrante it. A third of Czech citizens admit they do not usually know about the feast and they do not commemorate it. Only 6,3 % of respondents say that 17 November is a day to be celebrated and they also celebrate this day: 1,1 % of people celebrate this day with their family, 1,3 % with friends and 1,6 % take part in social gatherings and 2,3 % celebrate this feast in another way.

Popularity of Top Politicians

CVVM SOÚ AV ČR in October survey investigated how respondents trust to selected politicians (see table 1 and 2). They were shown a list with 23 names of top politicians from political Parties reprezented in Chamber of Deputies.

Among Party leaders Vlasta Parkanová enjoys the highest trust expressed by respondets (53 %).She is followed by Prague city mayor Pavel Bém (44 % of trustees).

In September survey made by CVVM SOÚ AV ČR was put, among others, the question on the confidence in the social institutions. The social institutions are in this case represented by the court of law, police, army, press, TV, radio, labour union and Church. From the responses, it is possible to see the positive evaluation of media that prevails over the negative evaluation. The trust in the army was expressed by more than 60% of respondents, whereas the trust in the police was formulated by less than 50% respondents.

Czech public more often than Poles, Hungarians and Slovaks consider Lebanese movement Hezbollah responsible for recent Israel–Lebanon conflict, but Czechs as well as citizens of other Central European states refuse the military operation of Israel in Lebanon. In the whole region people mainly support sending of UN peace mission to south Lebanon. People from Central Europe are mostly sceptic when thinking of the future of relationships between Israelis and Arabs.

In September survey made by CVVM SOÚ AV ČR we asked our respondents a question whether they trust to chosen international institutions. Confidence in all monitored international institutions prevails. OSN enjoys highest level of trust expressed by two thirds of respondents (61 %), on contrary a quarter of respondents (25 %) do not trust to OSN. Almost two thirds of respondents(58 %) also confide in the EU, otherwise 35 % do not find the EU trustworthy.

In CVVM survey which was made within project Our society 2006 in October 2006 we asked our respondents a question whether they trust to constitutional institutions. Question about public confidence in constitutional institutions is regular part of CVVM surveys which help us to monitor public confidence during time. In the long term president of our country has been the most trustworthy Czech constitutional institution.