Society is facing a crisis of trust in democratic institutions, but it has not lost faith in the possibility of peaceful changes, said Filip Eidus, a professor at the Faculty of Political Sciences, commenting on the results of research by the Belgrade Center for Security Policy on the topic “Government, Security, Democracy”.
The survey, presented by BCBP in the European House, shows that more than half of Serbian citizens believe that the country is going in the wrong direction, while 32.9 percent think that it is on the right path.
More than 37 percent of citizens think that there is no democracy in the country, while 25.2 percent think that Serbia is a democracy with big problems, BCBP program manager Jelena Pejić Nikić stated, adding that 24.6 percent consider Serbia a democracy with small problems.
34.4 percent of citizens are against the government, that is, another 12.6 percent are somewhat against it, and 17.2 percent of citizens support it, that is, another 18.6 percent support the government to some extent, according to the results of a survey in which 1,000 citizens participated in the period from May 12 to 26.
When asked who influences decision-making, 87.5 percent of citizens believe that it is the President of the State Aleksandar Vučić, and 71.7 percent the Government of Serbia, said Pejić Nikić and noted that 57.8 percent of citizens believe that organized crime influences decision-making.
When it comes to trust in institutions, citizens trust the Serbian Orthodox Church the most – 59.7 percent, but slightly more than 24 percent do not trust it.
53.9 percent have confidence in the Army, while 30.4 percent of citizens do not, according to the results of the survey.
Vučić is trusted by 39.7 percent of respondents, and 45.9 percent do not trust the president of the country, while Prime Minister Đur Macut is trusted by 32.4 percent, and 49.1 percent of respondents do not trust him.
Commenting on some of these results, Eidus noted that citizens are aware of the crisis of democracy in society and that two-thirds of those surveyed see that democracy does not work in our country at all.
This can be seen through the results that show you that every fifth citizen knows someone or had the experience of being asked to vote for a certain list, that is, every fourth citizen was or knows someone who was intimidated to go to a political rally.
The most worrying thing is that every third citizen was offered to sell their vote in the elections, which is a criminal offense punishable by up to three years in prison, Eidus warned.
Eidus stated that 76 percent of citizens believe that the tent settlement should be removed from Pionrski Parl, because it is associated with crime and lawlessness.
He also compared the results of the 2022 survey on trust in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Judiciary and the Prosecutor’s Office and this latest one, indicating that the most drastic drop is in the case of the police – from 76 percent, trust fell to only 39 percent.
Eidus points out that this research was done during the period of the murder in Senjak, so it probably influenced the views of citizens about the influence of organized crime on state authorities.
BCBP researcher Dušan Stanković presented the results of a survey related to citizens’ trust in the police, which show that 45.6 percent think that the police take care of criminals who are connected to the state, 44.6 percent think that they protect politicians who abuse power, while 41.4 percent think that the police take care of citizens and their property.
Stanković also pointed out that the citizens, probably as a result of the protests in the past year and a half, do not justify the fact that the police wear “phantoms” and uniforms without insignia.
When it comes to ways to bring about change, 72.9 percent of citizens believe that it is elections, which means that they prefer to choose institutional ways rather than the street, Stanković said and added that 48.1 percent of citizens believe that lustration is a way for institutions to start working, while 43.3 percent see the special prosecutor’s office and the police as a way to do that.
Retired police general Bogoljub Živković said that he spent 31 years in the police and that it is devastating and sad for him to hear that citizens’ trust in that institution has been cut in half.
The integrity of the police was damaged primarily because of political influence, but also because of the willingness of the police to agree to political pressure, said Živković.
Follow us on our Facebook and Instagram page, but also on X account. Subscribe to PDF edition of Danas newspaper.
