The Czech public’s view of democracy in the country has improved slightly this year, but a slight majority remain dissatisfied, according to a STEM poll held just after the parliamentary elections and released today.
Some 47% expressed satisfaction with the way democracy works in the Czech Republic shortly after the October Chamber of Deputies elections, up seven percentage points year-on-year. The share of respondents who were dissatisfied fell to 53%, down from 60% last year.
There was also a slight increase in the number of people who have a positive view of how civil liberties are protected in the country.
“The strengthening of satisfaction with the functioning of democracy is related to the fact that a part of the public now looks more positively at the current situation and less often sees developments in our country as wrong,” said STEM analyst Jitka Uhrova.
According to STEM, voters of the outgoing government and of the Pirates are similarly satisfied with the functioning of democracy as last year, while satisfaction among supporters of ANO, which won the elections and is forming a new government with Freedom and Direct Democracy (SPD) and the Motorists, has increased slightly. “The satisfaction of ANO voters with the results of the October elections is also reflected in more general attitudes,” Uhrova said.
Some 58% of citizens now think that civil liberties are sufficiently guaranteed in the country, compared to 54% a year ago. The number of people with the opposite opinion dropped by three points to 42%.
“Among the voters of the (outgoing government) coalition of Spolu, Mayors and Independents (STAN) and the Pirates, the opinion that civil liberties are sufficiently secured in our country clearly prevails. On the contrary, the majority of SPD voters are inclined to the opposite position. Voters of ANO and the Motorists are divided, with half satisfied with the level of civil liberties and half not,” the authors added.
The share of people who are satisfied with the country’s post-Communist development has also increased year-on-year. A fifth of people feel satisfied with post-1989 developments, up three points year-on-year. In contrast, a quarter of respondents are dissatisfied, down from 33% a year ago. However, the highest proportion of people, 55%, have mixed feelings about the post-Communist developments, up five points year-on-year.
1,000 respondents took part in the STEM survey from 9-17 October.
