More than half of people are satisfied with the way democracy is working in the Czech Republic, and agree that this form of government is better than any other, according to a survey by the CVVM agency. The results show a slight improvement in the public view of democracy since 2021, but still below the equivalent figures for 2020.
One in seven respondents would welcome the return of the communist regime, unchanged since the last survey.
55% of respondents expressed satisfaction with the functioning of democracy, up 7 percentage points from three years ago. Compared to 2020, however, this figure is still low; four years ago, 62% of people were satisfied with democracy in the Czech Republic.
The peak recorded level of Czech satisfaction with democracy was in February 2019 (67%), and the lowest in February 2013 (33%) according to CVVM.
The proportion of those who say democracy is better than any other form of government has increased by 2 percentage points since 2021, to 54%. At the same time, however, the proportion of respondents willing to accept an authoritarian regime under certain circumstances has increased by 4 points, to 27%.
Similar to three years ago, less than one-fifth say they do not care whether the country has a democratic or a non-democratic regime.
Lower levels of satisfaction with democracy are found among those who consider their household’s standard of living to be poor, as well as supporters of ANO, the Communists (KSCM), or the far-right Freedom and Direct Democracy (SPD). People under 30 years of age and Communist voters are also more likely to be in favour of an authoritarian form of government. The elderly, those with a poor standard of living, and ANO and SPD supporters are more likely not to care about the regime in the country.
CVVM also asked whether people are treated equally and fairly in the Czech Republic. Public opinion on this question has not changed significantly compared to 2021; 59% said yes, and 39% said no. Since 2017, the majority opinion is that citizens are treated equally and fairly. In the previous period from 2004 to 2016, with the exception of 2011 and 2015, the majority said the opposite.
However, the prevailing view among the public has long been that human rights are respected in the Czech Republic; 75% of respondents in the latest poll agreed on this, an increase of 6 percentage points from 2021.
CVVM conducted the survey on 1,000 people between 15 March and 2 June.
