Political

As far as the situation relating to Iraq is concerned, the basic monitored question is the agreement or disagreement with the discussed military intervention. At the beginning of February 2003, a military action was supported by a total of 22% of the Czech population, which is a little less than the figure in the preceding month. Since the start of US efforts to continue the fight against terrorism in this way, this recorded level of agreement has been at its lowest as of yet.

In its February survey, among other things, Public Opinion Research Centre focused on some aspects of relations between Czechs and Slovaks. The first question was to establish how often Czech citizens visited the Slovak Republic. The following questions concentrated on issues of how many people had relatives or friends in Slovakia and to which degree knowledge of the Slovak language was wide-spread. The respondents’ answers show that a third of Czech citizens visit the Slovak Republic less often than they did before the disintegration of the common state.

The respondents are of the opinion that no major changes occurred in the country over the course of last year. Primarily, they are convinced that no significant change happened in the sphere of citizen participation in the decision-making process about public issues, and in the observance of human rights. There is also a widespread opinion that the situation in culture and education has not changed.

The respondents almost universally agree that they choose a certain party because they identify with its programme (91%), with the party ideology (89%) and because they place trust in the party leaders (88%). There is slightly less broad consensus about the importance of existing activities of the party (78%). Two fifths of supporters of political parties say that their preferences are influenced by the political orientation of their family.

In the beginning of February 2003 the Public Opinion Research Centre focused in its survey on the question of how citizens currently view their local authorities. The survey was about to find out (among other issues) how many citizens have come into contact with their local council within this or last year, how people view the work of their local councils, to what extent they are satisfied with the work of their local councils and whether they took part in the municipal elections held this autumn.

Currently, 69 % of respondents claim a large or partial interest in the entry of the CZ to the EU. When evaluating how much information relating to the procedure of entering the EU Czech citizens had at their disposal, similarly as before, there was a prevailing feeling of insufficiency of the information (56 %); while 40 % of respondents are satisfied. Comprehensibility of the available information is rated considerably better (55 % satisfied, 39 % dissatisfied).

When asked an open question ‘What three qualities do you think the president should have?’, those polled most frequently held the opinion that the head of state should be educated, morally impeccable and non-partisan. The answers to the question ‘What are you expecting from the Czech president?’ most frequently mentioned the representation of the state, impartiality and objectiveness, social sympathy and interest in people.

In February Špidla’s government enjoyed confidence of 39 % of the respondents and on the contrary was distrusted by 57 %. Compared to January there has been a confidence level drop of 10 % points. The government’s trustworthiness level was below the 40 % mark last time in the year 2001. The Chamber of Deputies was regarded as trustworthy by 28 % and not trustworthy by 68 % of the respondents. The Chamber of Deputies also recorded a confidence level drop, although not as significant as in the case of the government.

A strong intention to participate in the referendum on the accession of the Czech Republic to the European Union at this point has been shown by 42 % of respondents, another 36 % have promised their participation with some hesitation ("probably yes"). Seven percent were still considering their decision and the remaining 15 % would not come to the referendum. The readiness to vote in the referendum remains under the influence of certain cooling phenomena recorded at the beginning of January.

The major event of early February 2003 was the presidential election the importance of which equalled that of the election to the Chamber of Deputies in late June and early July 2002. This event was followed by the planned attack of the USA and Great Britain on Iraq, the Columbia shuttle disaster and the accession of the Czech Republic to the European Union. The major event earlier that year, the 2002 floods, remained above the five percent limit of monitoring, along with the possible deployment of our soldiers in Iraq.