TIRANA, Feb.2 – Albanians’ trust in public institutions continued to dip in the past year with seven out of fourteen institutions registering lower or same trust levels compared to the previous year, according to a survey organized by the Institute for Democracy and Mediation (IDM). Only one in three Albanians trusts the government, whereas parliament enjoys an even lower degree of trust with only 22 percent of respondents having faith in the institution.
Overall, trust levels were below 50 percent for most institutions in the country. According to the same survey, international organizations are perceived as more trustworthy by Albanians compared to their own public institutions. A whopping 74 percent of respondents said they trusted NATO, while the EU was perceived as nearly equally as trustworthy with 72 percent answering they trusted the European Union.
The two international bodies have topped the list as the most trustworthy institutions in Albania for the last three years. Meanwhile, the justice system and political parties were the least trusted institutions in the country, according to the survey. The institutions which saw their trust levels drop the most were Parliament with a 7 percent drop followed by the healthcare system with a 5 percent drop.
Also Albanians’ confidence in political parties fell 4 percent year on year, trust in education dipped 4 percent and trust in government fell by 3 percent. On the other hand, religious institutions saw the highest increase in trust levels with the police, the president and NGOs also marking an increase year on year, whereas the perception of the media was unchanged at 39 percent compared to a year ago.
According to the survey, 1 in 3 citizens or 34 percent answered they had witnessed a corruption case involving the central government, while local governance was perceived as more corrupt with 41 percent responding they have witnessed a corruption case involving local government. The low level of trust Albanian citizens have expressed towards their institutions could be interpreted as a factor leading to the overall apathy which characterizes Albanian society.
It is interesting to notice that while the Albanian parliament enjoys low public trust, the majority of respondents said that parliament should be responsible for public policies as well as the accountability of the government. The survey used a sample of 1,600 respondents covering all 61 municipalities in the country and had an equal number of male and female respondents.
