Citizens about the role of the president in the political life

As for the question about whom the president should be approaching directly during the discharge of his office, the public regards as trouble free contacts mainly communication with citizens in general (91 % yes, 7 % no) or – to a lesser extent – with socially weaker population groups (67 % yes, 25 % no). As far as the president’s direct contacts within the political sphere are concerned, the Czech public agrees largely on relations with the government coalition parties (72 % yes, 23 % no), the strongest political party (63 % yes, 31 % no) or opposition parties represented in the Parliament (61 % yes, 32 % no), but not so in the case of contacts with non-parliamentary opposition (40 % yes, 50 % no) or a party, which is politically closest to the president himself (33 % yes, 59 % no). A major part of the Czech public regards as acceptable or advisable also the president’s direct contacts with main social dialogue partners, such as businessmen (60 % yes, 33 % no), trade unions (57 % yes, 36 % no) and also ethnic minorities (55 % yes, 37 % no) or civil associations and unions (51 % yes, 40 % no). The Czech public is totally divided as far as the president’s direct contacts with churches are concerned (48 % yes, 45 % no). The survey results also show that an absolute majority of Czech citizens regards the president’s activities in foreign politics as a natural part of the discharge of his office.