Prague, May 10 (CTK) – The public trust in the Czech president, government and parliament has dropped since February when it was relatively high, according to the CVVM poll conducted in April the results of which were released on Thursday.
People’s satisfaction with Czech politics in general dropped over the period of time as well: 17 percent were satisfied with it and 44 percent were not in February, while 13 percent were satisfied and as many as 57 percent were not in April, the pollsters said. Czechs seemed more dissatisfied with politics only during the government crisis that occurred under Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka (Social Democrats, CSSD) in May 2017.
The local authorities and mayors are traditionally the most popular among Czechs, though their popularity slightly decreased, too.
The popularity of President Milos Zeman, who was re-elected in January, fell from 55 to 49 percent, yet he remains the third most trusted constitutional institution. Confidence in Zeman dropped under 50 percent for the first time since September 2017.
The popularity of the government markedly dropped: from 38 percent in February to 35 percent in March and 31 percent in April.
The ANO minority cabinet of Andrej Babis failed to win the parliament’s confidence in January, it formally resigned and will rule the country until the appointment of a new cabinet, which is likely to be formed by ANO and the Social Democrats with support from the Communists (KSCM).
The two houses of parliament are considered the least trustworthy institutions and their popularity has been lowering since February. The Chamber of Deputies (26 percent) is perceived as less trustworthy than the Senate (31 percent), the latest poll showed.
Regional authorities and regional governors are popular among 43 and 40 percent of people, respectively.
The poll was conducted on 1115 people over 15 on April 7-19.
Public trust in Czech constitutional institutions from April 2017 to April 2018 (in percent):
April 2017 May 2017 June 2017 Sept 2017 Oct 2017 Dec 2017 Jan 2018 Feb 2018 March 2018 April 2018
President 55 41 48 51 50 55 55 56 50 49
Government 40 23 26 28 29 – 32 38 35 31
Chamber 30 21 23 21 23 31 29 32 27 26
Senate 30 27 30 25 29 35 30 34 32 31
Regional office 44 41 44 42 44 46 45 45 45 43
Local office 63 60 60 58 61 63 63 64 62 62
Mayors 65 61 61 60 60 64 64 64 63 62
Governors 43 40 42 42 42 44 42 44 41 40
Source: CVVM
