Macedonian citizens have a low trust in the Parliament and the MPs, a survey conducted on behalf of the Program for Parliamentary Support of the Parliament of the Republic Macedonia reveals. The survey was presented to the Macedonian MPs and the Parliament employees on Friday.

On the scale from 1, being the lowest, to 10 – the highest mark, the citizens graded the work of the Parliament with 3.4%, which is 0.6% lower than in 2022. Regarding the citizens’ opinion on the work of the MPs in the last four year, the citizens graded the Parliament with 2.2 (on the scale to 5, with 1 being the worst), which is the lowest grade in the last four years.

Robert Scott Heaslet, NDI Senior Resident Director for Macedonia and team leader of the Program for Support of thee Parliament (PSP), and Marko Trosanski, Chairman of the Institute for Democracy hosted the event. Heaslet said that, in order to show responsibility toward the public, the MPs should consider ethical reforms and reforms in the campaigning, as well as stronger parliamentary oversight.

“The citizens of Macedonia are concerned that the MPs are not efficient in meeting the needs of thee citizens, and think that the MPs represent only their own interests (80%), the interest of their political party (75%), and the business interests (64%)”, Heaslet said.

Trosanski stressed that to improve the perception on the Parliament, it is crucial to improve its role of supervisor of the executive government.

“If we want the Parliament to turn into a genuine low making institution, a supreme institution of the citizens’ souverignity, then you must improve the oversight function, to increase the demands for accountability, to consider all notifications and opinions from the Anticorruption Commission, and you have to do it sooner, rather than later”, Trosanski told the MPs.