The research was presented by Svetlana Logar of Ipsos Strategic Marketing agency which conducted it in July 2015 on a sample of 1014 persons over 18 years of age. The National Assembly has always been one of the institutions least trusted by the public, which the research, conducted in cooperation with the Centre for Research, Transparency and Accountability, has proved for the third year running, Logar.

This year’s research focused on the knowledge of and interest in the National Assembly’s role and work and views on the work of the National Assembly and its MPs.

65% of citizens know nothing or know very little about the National Assembly, while 70% know nothing or little about the role of the MPs. 43% of citizens gain their knowledge about the National Assembly and the MPs from the media, while only 5% gained said knowledge in school, and 93% have never visited the National Assembly. Most citizens recognise the National Assembly’s legislative role – 60%, while the lowest percentage goes to the National Assembly’s representative role – 5%, and 36% of the citizens did not know what the functions of the National Assembly are. These results do not vary much from the data gathered in previous years. Also, there have been no systemic changes compared to previous research in the matter of the election of MPs, and only 17% of the citizens knew who disposes of the MP’s mandate. One third of the citizens know how many MPs there are in total, while 53% know the name of the National Assembly Speaker. The citizens are generally not interested in politics, a mere 28%, or the National Assembly’s work – 27%.

The part of the research concerning the public view of the work of the National Assembly and the MPs paints a typical picture – 68% of the citizens believe that the politicians are not telling the truth and 70% believe that they should account for their work to the citizens. Speaking of the level of satisfaction with the National Assembly’s work, the results are similar as in previous years. 48% of the citizens, mainly young and educated people, are not satisfied with the National Assembly’s work, which is not that bad, said Logar. However, 71% of the citizens believe that the politicians work for their own and their respective parties’ benefit, rather than the citizens’ benefit, which is also typical. What the citizens, 59% of them, believe would boost accountability in the MPs is direct contact with the constituency, concluded Logar.

After the presentation, National Assembly Deputy Speaker and the Chair of the Group Prof. Dr Vladimir Marinkovic said that the Group would boost transparency and the visibility of the MPs’ work, in cooperation with the civil sector and the National Assembly Support Service, and the results of the research tell it what should be done to improve the situation.

All the MPs - Group members present commended the establishment of the Group and agreed that one of the ways to change the National Assembly and the MPs’ public image is to change the election system.

The meeting was chaired by the Chair of the Parliamentary Group for Open Parliament and National Assembly Deputy Speaker Prof. Dr Vladimir Marinkovic.