Weeks before the Slovak regional elections in November, voters do not trust their local politicians. According to a survey conducted by the Focus Agency for Transparency International Slovakia, almost 61% of respondents believe that mayors and local councilors promote their private interests to some extent in their decision making. More than 36% are of the opinion that heads of city halls sometimes promote their interest and almost a quarter think that they do so most of the time or always.
The most alarming situation is in Bratislava region, where almost 71% do not trust local politicians. The Prešov region with almost 49% is on the other side of the ranking. The most disappointed are the voters of the far right Kotleba People's Party - Our Slovakia (almost 80%). On the other hand, voters of Christian Democratic Movement are the least skeptical (50.4%).
The same research was also conducted in 2003 and since then, trust in local politicians has fallen by approximately 5 percentage points.
In spite of this mood, satisfaction with services provided by local municipalities prevails. Around two thirds of respondents are almost or completely satisfied with garbage collection and water supply services. The most significant discontentment is with the quality of roads (46.9%) and health care (38.8%).
The survey was conducted in the second half of September on 1,015 respondents. The elections to local Slovak councils will take place on November 10th. Foreigners with permanent residence in Slovakia who are 18 or older are also eligible to vote in them.
