Fact Sheet December 2015

Survey Results: The Trend of Citizens’ Distrust in Political Parties and Institutions in Continues

Similar to the research results from the years 2013 and 2014, the trend of citizens’ distrust in government institutions and political parties continues in the year 2015.1 As the results from the year 2015 (presented in chart 1) show, it is noticeable that several institutions stand out regarding the level of citizens’ distrust in them. Political parties are the most distrusted by most of the citizens: in 2015, 62.3% of citizens specified that they do not trust the political parties at all, while combined with the “I do not have much trust” attitude (14.9%), the total number of those distrusting the political parties amounts to 77.2%. The category encompasses a variety of other institutions towards which more than 50% of those surveyed have no trust at all: cantonal parliament (51%), cantonal government (52.2%), state government (52.8%), entity government (51.5%), state parliament (50.3%) and entity parliament (49.6%).

Bearing in mind that 65.2% of respondents stated that they have a lot of trust (27.4%) or partial trust (37.8%) in religious institutions, the results of the research show that these institutions enjoy the highest level of trust. These are followed by non-profit organizations with 63.4% of respondents stating that they have a lot of or partial trust in these organizations. As was the case with the previous two years, citizens indicated that they have a high level of trust or partial trust in the institutions, organizations, and enterprises that offer some of the basic services such as utility services and safety. This group comprises utility companies (63.3%), police (62.4%), and the army (60.5%).

A detailed overview of the results on citizens’ distrust is offered on the following page, and demographic and methodology data are available in Appendix 1.

The research was conducted in November 2015 by Analitika - Center for Social Research in collaboration with the market research agency Mareco Index Bosnia. The research was conducted via a CATI telephone poll on a sample of 1000 randomly selected respondents from the entire territory of BiH. The survey was conducted as part of the project “Advocacy for Open Government: Supporting the Right to Know in South East Europe.”

1 For previous studies see: Analitika – Center for Social Research, Survey Results: The Citizens Do Not Trust the Governmental Institutions and Political Parties in Bosnia and Herzegovina (Sarajevo: Analitika, 2013), available at: http://analitika.ba/sites/default/files/publikacije/fakti_povjerenje_gradjana_13nov2013.pdf (accessed on December 23, 2015); Analitika – Center for Social Research, Survey Results: High Degree of Distrust in Political Parties and Government Institutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina (Sarajevo: Analitika, 2014), available at: http:// www.analitika.ba/sites/default/files/publikacije/povjerenje_fakti_oktobar_2014.pdf (accessed on December 23, 2015). fact sheet

Chart 1: The trust of citizens towards various institutions, organizations, and enterprises. The results are displayed in percentage and are coded by color.2

Religious institutions 27.4 37.8 9.5 21.7 3.6

Humanitarian, non-profit 26.1 37.3 12.0 19.9 4.7 organizations

Utility companies 25.4 37.9 11.3 21.8 3.6

Army 24.0 36.5 12.4 24.5 2.6

Police 23.9 38.5 10.9 25.6 1.1

Television 16.5 41.2 16.7 24.6 1.0

Elected local officials 13.9 31.7 11.8 39.7 2.9

Courts 13.8 29.2 15.7 39.4 1.9

Written/printed media 13.5 38.8 17.5 2 7.1 3.1

OHR 13.1 28.6 13.6 40.2 4.5

European commission 11.8 29.5 14.0 38.8 5.9

Local administration 10.7 35.4 13.6 38.4 1.9

Public services 10.4 33.5 15.4 37.9 2.8

Entity parliament 9.9 22.2 14.2 49.6 4.1

State or entity audit bureaus 8.6 22.3 15.3 43.1 10.7

State Parliament 8.2 22.7 14.7 50.3 4.1

Entity government 7. 6 21.8 16.8 51.5 2.3

State government 6.9 22.2 16.3 52.8 1.8

Cantonal government (in the BiH 6.3 23.8 16.3 52.2 1.4 Federation)

Cantonal Parliament (in the BiH 6.2 24.2 14.8 51.0 3.7 Federation)

Political parties 4.1 16.0 14.9 62.3 2.7

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

I have a high level of trust I have some trust I do not have much trust I have no trust at all No answer

2 The survey results on the trust of citizens in the BiH Federation institutions are only based on the responses of the respondents who are citizens of this entity (N = 627) while the total number of respondents amounted to 1000.

2 Analitika – Center for Social Research The Trend of Citizens’ Distrust in Political Parties and Institutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina Continues

Appendix 1 – Methodology and Sample

Using the CATI method, a telephone poll was conducted during the collection of data. The CATI system operates as a random selection of telephone numbers according to region. Consisting of 1000 respondents over 18 years of age with residence in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the sample was representative and random.

Table 1 – Sex of the participants Table 2 – Geographical area N % N % Male 500 50 Federation of BiH 627 62.7 Female 500 50 Republika Srpska 349 34.9 Total 1000 100 Brčko District 24 2.4 Total 1000 100

Table 3 – Age of the participants Table 4 – Level of education N % N % 18–24 109 10.9 Incomplete primary school 51 5.1 25–29 91 9.1 Primary school 168 16.8 30–39 183 18.3 Secondary vocational school 525 52.5 40–49 188 18.8 Comprehensive school 51 5.1 50–59 186 18.6 Community college 79 7. 9 60–64 92 9.2 Undergraduate 118 11.8 65+ 151 15.1 Master’s or specialization 7 0.7 Total 1000 100 PhD 1 0 .1 Total 1000 100

Table 5 – Employment status N % Permanent placement 200 20 Contingent employment 85 8.5 Unemployed – in search of employment 243 24.3 Unemployed – not in search of employment 472 47.2 Total 1000 100

Analitika – Center for Social Research 3 This publication is the result of the project “Advocacy for Open Government: Supporting the Right to Know in South East Europe”, which is being implemented in , Bosnia and Herzegovina, , Macedonia, and Kosovo.

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The contents of this publication are the sole responsibility of the Center for Social Research Analitika and can in no way be taken to reflect the views of the European Union.

This project is funded by the European Union.

ANALITIKA Center for Social Research

ANALITIKA - Center for Social Research is an independent, non-profit, non-governmental policy research and development center based in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. The mission of Analitika is to offer well-researched, relevant, innovative and practical recommendations that help drive the public policy process forward, and to promote inclusive policy changes that are responsive to public interest.

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