Press releases

Citizenship is most noticeably manifested during elections; in case of the Czech entry to the European Union, the issue of the actual entry of the CZ to the EU, that is to say participation and voting in the referendum, is the first and most important decision, which will be followed by others – new citizens of the European Union will be voting members into the European Parliament on behalf of the Czech Republic.

65 % of citizens are very or at least “partially” interested in the entry of the CZ to the EU, which is 8 percentage points more than a year ago. In general, society has a prevailing opinion that the information about the process of the integration of the CZ in the EU is insufficient (59 %), with the opposite opinion scoring 33 %. However, among the people who are “very” interested in the entry of the CZ to the EU, there is a predominating opinion that the information is sufficient.

Respondents are mostly convinced about the partial loss of sovereignty of the country. Furthermore, on one hand people more frequently think that the membership of the CZ in the EU will bring greater security, greater legal and democratic safeguards, improvement in the quality of Czech legislation and economic benefits, but also risks associated with migration of the population and economic problems including a drop in the standard of living.

In October, 37% of those polled said they were satisfied with the current political situation in the Czech Republic (‘very satisfied’ – 2%, ‘quite satisfied’ – 35%), whereas 58% were dissatisfied (‘quite dissatisfied’ – 43% and ‘very dissatisfied’ – 15%) and 4% did not know. Since the June election to the Chamber of Deputies, no significant change has occurred in respect of the satisfaction with the political situation.

The president is trusted by 55% and distrusted by 42% of citizens. The level of confidence in the president has been relatively stable at least since mid-1999 and is regularly above the 50% limit. The new government of Vladimír Špidla enjoys confidence of 48% of interviewees and is not trusted by the same number of respondents (48%). The second survey of the coalition cabinet trustworthiness level confirms the results from September and is significantly higher than the one expressed to the departing cabinet in July (43 %).

Almost two thirds of CSSD voters would also support the party today, while 8% would vote the KSCM and 6% the ODS. Former voters of the CSSD include a relatively high percentage of those who would not participate in an election today or do not know whom to vote for (17%). 57% of respondents who voted the ODS in the June election would also support the party in late September, whereas 15% would now vote the CSSD and 7% the KDU-CSL.

Shortly before the local elections, approximately three quarters of citizens eligible to vote (77%) expressed their willingness to participate, with 43% saying they are definitely going to participate. On the other hand, only 15% of respondents said in advance that they probably or definitely would not vote in the elections. The real turnout was lower by over 30 percentage points, with major differences between the survey results and the real turnout occurring in places where citizens chose their representatives in town municipalities or councils of corporate towns.

Throughout the ‘super election’ year 2002, the Public Opinion Research Centre investigated how voters’ decisions developed, with its September and October surveys focusing on the coming Senate election. The data obtained are fully comparable with those that had been, since 1996, regularly collected before Senate elections. Voters of the KSCM and the ODS were most firmly decided about their choice (both roughly 30% as opposed to the average of 23%), followed by 34% of those who said that the Senate election would definitely take place in their constituency; more than a half of those who were firmly decided to participate in the election; 58% of those who said they knew all or almost candidates and 46% of those who were decided to vote for parties and not for personalities.

The best evaluation marks went to the media – press, radio and television (average grade 2.41) – and only a slightly worse score was achieved by the prime minister (2.55). Above-average marks were also received by ČSSD, the government and the Chamber of Deputies chairman. The activities of the Senate chairman, KDU-ČSL, Chamber of Deputies and president scored marks slightly below the average and even worse marks were achieved by ODS, KSČM, Senate and US-DEU.

For the second time since the June election to the Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Republic’s Parliament, all respondents having the right to vote were asked a question investigating which party they would vote for if an election to the Chamber of Deputies took place the following week. Compared to the end of September, only one change occurred: the CSSD has lost some of its lead over the ODS.