Prague, Nov 16 (CTK) – A majority of Czechs are dissatisfied with the October general election result, while 43 percent are satisfied with it, according to the STEM agency’s poll results released to CTK today.
Almost two fifths of Czechs expect a new cabinet to be formed in March or later, or not to be formed at all, which would lead to an early election, and 31 percent expect political stability will be achieved, the poll says.
The poll was conducted among more than 1,000 respondents over 18 two weeks after the October 20-21 election.
“If we compare the current situation with that following the previous parliamentary election, we find that the current post-election mood is not much different from that in 2013, when the share of the dissatisfied was also higher than the share of those satisfied,” STEM noted.
A bigger share of those satisfied with the election result, 50 percent, can be found among those who actually voted.
On the other hand, among those who did not vote, about three out of ten are satisfied.
As regards the expectations of political stability after the election, 5 percent of people expect stability with certainty, 26 percent tend to expect it, and the remaining 69 percent do not.
“Overall, we may summarize that one half of the public (52 percent) is dissatisfied with the election results and does not expect political stability. On the contrary, one fourth (27 percent) is satisfied and believes in stability,” the pollsters said.
A total of 17 percent is satisfied with the result, but does not expect stability, they said.
As regards the formation of the new cabinet, 31 percent of people await it before the year’s end and about the same share expect it some time in January or February. The remaining 38 percent believe the new cabinet would be formed even later or not at all.
The poll was conducted after President Milos Zeman nominated ANO chairman Andrej Babis to lead talks on the new cabinet in late October.
“The public is somehow more sceptical than after the October 2013 election, when two fifths of citizens expected the formation of Bohuslav Sobotka’s (Social Democrats, CSSD) cabinet until the end of 2013,” STEM said.
ANO won the general election with 29.6 percent, followed by the Civic Democrats (ODS) with 11.3 percent and the Pirates and Freedom and Direct Democracy (SPD) with more than 10 percent each. The left has weakened, the Communists (KSCM) and the CSSD received less than 8 percent each. The Christian Democrats (KDU-CSL), TOP 09 and the Mayors and Independents (STAN) have each narrowly crossed the 5 percent line to enter the Chamber of Deputies.