Prague, May 22 (CTK) – Corruption, bribes and lobbyists influence politicians’ decision making most of all, according to most of the respondents in a Czech poll conducted by the CVVM agency.
Only 2 percent of those polled said that mainly citizens influence the decisions of politicians.
Thirty-one percent are convinced about the dominating influence of bribes and corruption, and 22 percent say groups of interests and lobbyists influence politicians’ decision making most of all.
According to 11 percent of Czechs, politicians are mainly influenced by the media, and another 11 percent ascribe the largest influence to personal relations, the poll showed.
Other influencing factors were mentioned by less than 5 percent respondents.
They include factors such as own party voters, social networks, public opinion polls, trade unions, strikes and demonstrations, scientists and experts and churches, and citizens as the least frequently mentioned factor.
“People’s conviction about a strong influence of bribes and corruption and groups of interests and lobbies corresponds with people’s opinion about a quite strong corruption of political parties, ministries and central authorities,” the CVVM wrote.
According to the latest poll, two thirds of Czechs are of the view that most or almost all public officials are corrupt.
The poll was conducted on 1,045 respondents on March 6-19.
rtj/dr/kva
