BRATISLAVA, July 13, (WEBNOVINY) — While the credibility of the institution of the head of state has reached its lowest level since Ivan Gasparovic was first elected to office in 2004, Slovaks still trust the president most from among state institutions. This is the outcome of a survey of the think tank Public Affairs Institute (IVO), which took place in early June in cooperation with the agency FOCUS on a representative sample of 1,026 respondents. In June 2012, the president remained the only top-level state institution, which has retained the confidence of a majority of the people (61 percent). „This stems from the fact that trust in the president is not as politically polarized as trust in the cabinet or parliament,“ said Zora Butorova of IVO.
After this year’s early parliamentary elections compared to the autumn of 2011, trust increased in the cabinet and the parliament in the eyes of the Slovak population (from 29 percent to 44 percent and from 31 percent to 42 percent). However, despite this positive turn, the share of those who do not trust either institution exceeds the share of those who trust one of the institutions. The credibility of both constitutional institutions returned to levels before the elections in 2010. Trust in the cabinet reflects most the respondents’ favor for one of the political parties. Trust in the current government was expressed by eight out of ten supporters of SMER-SD, but only three of ten voters of the opposition parties, and this proportion are lowest among SDKU-DS voters (19 percent).
Confidence of citizens toward the Constitutional Court Slightly took a moderately positive development, which since October 2011 increased from 37 percent to 43 percent. Of four other institutions studied, non-governmental organizations have the highest trust of 40 percent, followed by trade unions (38 percent). Courts in Slovakia suffer a long-term deficit of trust. In June 2012, courts were considered trustworthy by only 28 percent of respondents, which is even less than in late 2010, when it was 33 percent. The public has a long-term very critical view of political parties. In June 2012, 77 percent of respondents did not trust political parties while only 17 percent trusted them.
The leader of the SMER-SD Robert Fico has for long topped the ranking of credibility of politicians. Last month, 30 percent of respondents said they trusted him. Far behind him is deputy chairman of SMER-SD and Interior Minister Robert Kalinak (12 percent), who achieved the same credibility level as before early elections, in January 2012. IVO notes that as much as 39 percent of the people surveyed do not trust anyone, or could not give state any such personality. „The proportion is higher than before the elections, which may reflect the frustration of some people from their results, but also less interested in Butorova said and added that a similar trend was also reflected after the elections in 2010.
Among the top five most trusted politicians are two leaders of the parliamentary opposition parties – for the first time Igor Matovic (9 percent), and traditionally the leader of MOST-HID Bela Bugar and President Ivan Gasparovic (both 8 percent). Next is former deputy KDH chairman and now independent MP Daniel Lipsic (7 percent), recently confirmed KDH leader Jan Figel and SaS chairman Richard Sulik (both 6 percent), former Minister of Justice and unsuccessful candidate for SDKU chairperson Lucia Zitnanska (5 percent).
The departure of former Prime Minister Iveta Radicova from active politics was reflected in a sharp drop of confidence in her (from 14 to 4 percent). Non-parliamentary SNS party leader Jan Slota (3 percent) remains in the top ten.
SITA