PRIME Minister Robert Fico remains the most trusted politician in Slovakia, according to the results of a survey carried out by Institute for the Research of Public Opinion (ÚVVM) in early January 2009.
“The respondents were asked to name, without any pattern, a maximum of three personalities in the Slovak political scene who possess their trust at the moment,” the SITA newswire quoted Pavol Marchevský from ÚVVM. Fico was mentioned by 38 percent of those surveyed.
Fico has been the most trusted politician in Slovakia since July 2002, according to ÚVVM results, SITA wrote.
Slovak President Ivan Gašparovič is second, receiving a positive response from more than 14 percent of respondents. This was, however, a significant drop from the 21 percent he recorded in the previous month. The third most trustworthy politician is Interior Minister Robert Kaliňák with more than 12 percent, representing the best result in Kaliňák’s political career, SITA quoted Marchevský as saying.
The president of the Slovak National Party, Ján Slota, finished fourth and Iveta Radičová, an opposition MP and presidential candidate, was fifth with almost 9 percent of respondents mentioning her. The leader of the Movement for a Democratic Slovakia (HZDS), Vladimír Mečiar, was thought to be trustworthy by 8 percent of the respondents. Finance Minister Ján Počiatek, his predecessor Ivan Mikloš and the leader of the opposition Slovak Democratic and Christian Union (SDKÚ), Mikuláš Dzurinda, were all thought to be trustworthy by about 5 percent of the respondents. The top ten was rounded out by Béla Bugár, MP for the Hungarian Coalition Party (SMK), who was trusted by 4 percent of respondents, SITA reported.
“Almost 24 percent of the respondents did not trust any Slovak politician which, in comparison to the last survey in 2008, represents a slight dip in the level of distrust,” Marchevský said as quoted by SITA.
