62 percent of Maldivians have no confidence in parliament: TM

A nationwide survey by Transparency Maldives (TM) has revealed that 62 percent of Maldivians have no confidence in parliament, the institution with the lowest public confidence in Maldives, according to the report.

The survey, conducted in August 2013, two weeks before the presidential election, shows that with 58 percent, political parties have the second lowest level public of confidence.

Despite such distrust in institutions, a majority of the public, 26 percent, believes that the Elections Commission could be trusted to deliver a fair and unbiased result.

From a pool of 1000 respondents approached randomly, 50 percent said they lack confidence in local governments, 46 percent said they have no confidence in the courts, 43 percent said they have “no confidence at all” in the office of the President and 40 percent have no faith in big businesses.

“Responses are more evenly balanced in the cases of the two international organizations included in the list—“the United Nations” and “the Commonwealth”,” read the survey report. Some 27 percent of respondents said that they do no trust the United Nations and 28 percent said that they have no confidence in the Commonwealth.

A total of 21 percent respondents said they have no confidence in religious bodies and 18 percent said they have no confidence in non-governmental organizations. The army and the police had a no confidence level of 29 and 32 respectively.

Transparency Maldives, the local chapter of Transparency International, launched the survey report - titled Democracy at the Crossroads - during a special event at Salt Restaurant in Male’ today. The survey was conducted with the support of National Democratic Institute (NDI), said Transparency Maldives.