Prague, Jan 18 (CTK) – Corruption is still the Czech Republic’s big problem, most Czechs believe, but their proportion fell from 89 percent in 2012 to 81 percent at the close of last year, according to a poll conducted by the STEM polling agency and released yesterday.
Czechs tend to see the government’s efforts to deal with the problem more positively than in the past.
Two-fifths of Czechs agree with the view that the centre-left coalition government headed by Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka (Social Democrats, CSSD) is sincerely trying to resolve the most scandalous cases of embezzlement and corruption.
The opposite view is held by 59 percent of Czechs.
One-quarter of Czechs also believe that the government has managed to curb corruption, while 74 percent of them do not.
The previous centre-right coalition government of Petr Necas (Civic Democratic Party, ODS) received worse poll ratings in 2012.
In 2012, one-quarter of Czechs believed the government was honestly trying to investigate corruption and 16 percent expected the government to be successful in its struggle.
Some 40 percent of Czechs have seen some progress in the struggle with embezzlement and corruption, while 60 percent of them have not.
In December 2012, the number of positive answers was 3 percent higher, which was due to the widely publicised prosecution of former health minister and Central Bohemia regional governor David Rath over corruption, the pollsters said.
Social Democrat and Christian Democrat (KDU-CSL) voters tend to have the most positive views of the government’s effort to combat corruption.
The followers of Finance Minister Andrej Babis’s ANO, another coalition government member, are split roughly evenly over the issue.
A negative evaluation of the issue prevails among potential voters of the opposition parties, the ODS, TOP 09 and Communists (KSCM).
The poll was conducted on a sample of 1,000 Czechs over 18 in November 2015.
