Democracy better than Communism for half of Czechs - poll

One-third of Czechs believe that the current regime is worse than the previous one. The figure rose from 27 to 32 percent.

The remaining 22 percent consider both regimes roughly the same.

Since 1992, when STEM started watching the views on the regimes before and after 1989, the ratio of their followers has considerably changed.

The biggest proportion of Czechs, 69 percent, said the current regime was better than the Communist one in 1992.

The figure rose over 60 percent in January 2003 and in November 2006.

The number of the proponents of the current regime was reaching a record low from December 1997 to April 2000, when it stood at 48-49 percent.

At that time, Vaclav Klaus's government faced a recession and problems with the financing of his Civic Democratic Party (ODS).

From 2000 on, the proportion of those preferring the current regime rose to the steady level of 50-60 percent.

Last year, under the government of Petr Necas (ODS) there was again a significant decline.

The current regime tends to be preferred by young, educated and well-off people, who vote for the government coalition parties ODS and TOP 09.

The trust in the current regime fell among the people with low education, aged 45-59 and rather poor in 2010 and 2011.

Last year, there was also an obvious fall of confidence in the current regime among the young, educated and well-off.

The poll was conducted on a sample of 1,119 Czechs over 18 on January 4-11.

Author: ČTK
www.ctk.cz