THE QUALITY of democracy in Slovakia has remained unchanged so far this year, receiving the same grade in the third quarter as in the previous two quarters of 2012, with a mark of 2.8, according to the IVO Barometer survey conducted regularly by analysts at the Institute for Public Affairs (IVO).
The IVO Barometer evaluates four areas of democracy: democratic institutions and a lawful state (giving Slovakia a grade of 2.5 in the third quarter); legislation (a grade of 2.5); respect for and protection of human and minority rights (a grade of 3.0); and media freedom and the quality of public-service media (a grade of 3.0). The grades were the same as in the previous quarter in all four monitored areas.
Potential marks range from 1 to 5, with 1 representing the optimal state of democracy based on standards and comparative criteria in other EU and Council of Europe countries.
The development in each of the areas in the third quarter was marked with several contradictory measures which in the end balance each other from the viewpoint of the quality of democracy, IVO analysts explained, adding that although negative trends prevailed slightly, their prevalence was not significant enough to cause a drop in the evaluation.
