Prague, Nov 4 (CTK) – Czechs consider local and presidential elections the most important, while those to the Senate and the European Parliament (EP) are assessed as the least significant, according to a STEM poll released to CTK Friday.
The poll was conducted on 1050 respondents after the October elections to the regional assemblies and one-third of the Senate
The respondents assessed various kinds of elections on the scale from one to five points, while five was the highest rating.
Local elections received 3.77 points on average, presidential polls 3.74 points.
The average rating of local elections has decreased since the previous STEM poll two years ago, while that of presidential elections has increased. It has been higher than the assessment of general elections’ importance for the first time since September 2012.
Czechs assess (general) elections to the Chamber of Deputies, the lower house of parliament, as less important than in the past, giving them 3.63 points on average.
Regional elections got 3.4 points.
Elections to the Senate, the upper house, were given 2.54 points on average, which is less than in the past, and the EP elections received only 2.53 points.
There is a clear connection between turnout and the importance that people ascribe to particular elections, the pollsters said.
They point out that the lowest turnout was in Senate and EP elections, while the highest in the first direct presidential election in 2013.
Only 15.4 percent of voters took part in the October Senate elections, while some 60 percent voted in both rounds of the 2013 presidential election.
