Trust in political parties reaches low - survey

  • 2009-04-02
  • From wire reports
TALLINN - Estonians trust politicalparties least and the Rescue Board most, results from amonthly survey by pollster Turu-uuringute AS have revealed.

Political parties had the trust of 21 percent of therespondents in the survey, which was carried out in March. The parliament was trustedby 30 percent, the government by 39 percent and the primeminister by 40 percent of the polled.

At the top end of the scoreboard were the Rescue Board(95 percent), the border guard (85 percent), the Tax andCustoms Board (81 percent) and the police (78 percent).Previous surveys too have shown the Rescue Board to be themost trusted institution in Estonia.

In the first quarter of this year the trust rating ofthe parliament dropped the most, by 21 percent from January.Trust in both the government and the parties dipped by 9percent.

The credibility of political institutions is eroded onthe one hand by the deepening economic slump which brings inits wake a host of social problems, and on the other handpeople's attitudes also may have been influenced by theadministrative reform hastily prepared by the government,the attempt to tie amendments to election laws to the genderequality law, and publication of parliament members' payrise, Turu-uuringute AS said.

Non-Estonians have considerably less trust in institutions than ethnic Estonians. The exception ispolitical parties which non-Estonians rate somewhat higherthan ethnic Estonians -- 25 percent against 19 percent. Asurvey of party support Turu-uuringute carried out in Marchshowed that the largest opposition party Center enjoys thestrongest support among non-Estonians.