Political

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.

In its March poll, the Centre for the Research of Public Opinion focused, inter alia, on the evaluation of local living conditions. The first question examined the overall satisfaction with life in the place of residence. The results show that 67% of respondents were satisfied with life in the place of residence, while almost a fifth (24%) opted for the answer ‘neither satisfied, nor dissatisfied’ and 9% were dissatisfied.

The Czech public considers unemployment to be the most acute problem now. 84% of those polled believe that the unemployment must be tackled ‘very urgently’ and a further 12% believe that it needs to be tackled ‘quite urgently’. This year, the unemployment is followed by problems in the health sector that are considered even more serious than organised crime and corruption, which jointly ranked at the top of the ‘ladder’ in the year 2002.

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.

All respondents having the right to vote were asked an open question (i.e. without a list of political parties being used) investigating which party they would vote for if an election to the Chamber of Deputies took place the following week. The structure of the answers given is summarised in the table.

The question ‘Imagine that an election to the Chamber of Deputies is held next week. Would you participate?’ was answered yes by 68% of those surveyed having the right to vote (‘definitely yes’ by 31% and ‘probably yes’ by 37%), while 25% said no (13% ‘probably not’ and 12% ‘definitely not’) and 7% did not know.

In its February survey, the Public Opinion Research Centre examined the public opinion on the activities of Charta 77. The respondents were, as was the case in 1993, asked two closed questions. The first question focused on the overall assessment of the activities of Charta 77, while the other investigated the reasons why people had signed the document.

28% of respondents say that Charta 77 prepared the demise of the communist regime; nearly a third (31%) are of the opinion that the activities of Charta 77 had no impact, 3% think that it endangered other citizens and 38% cannot judge the activities of Charta 77 (it is interesting to note that this figure stood at 51% in 1993).

Dissatisfaction with the current state of affairs outweighs satisfaction in all the monitored areas except the accession of the Czech Republic to the European Union. The greatest dissatisfaction is expressed in respect of the current unemployment rate. Over four fifths of those polled are dissatisfied and a half of Czech citizens very dissatisfied with the current unemployment rate. Three quarters of respondents also voiced their dissatisfaction with the extent of corruption in our country and approximately 6 out of 10 Czech citizens gave a negative assessment of the functioning of the Czech economy and the quality of social security.

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.