MPs suffer in opinion polls

Marketing and research agencies told Belgrade daily Blic that the rating of the Serbian parliament was "very low". According to this, a very small percentage of citizens have trust in MPs, and that number is described as amounting to their "immediate family members". MPs suffer in opinion polls Director of Strategic Marketing Svetlana Logar said that even "in moments of optimism", such as the EU visa lifting, citizens do not tend to credit parliament, that Serbians do not believe that MPs were responsible for the progress and that “there are no indicators that the rating of parliament can jump in these circumstances”. The daily writes that the lack of confidence in the Serbian parliament comes because most people believe that it is divides along partisan lines, and that it engages in non-constructive conflicts, that do not benefit the state. “After the changes of 2000, trust was significantly higher, and the first drop happened quickly, in April 2001, when fights between Vojislav Kostunica and Zoran Djindjic, rather their parties, broke out regarding the arrest of Slobodan Milosevic. People saw this as a conflict between parties, not as fighting for the greater good. Since then, the rating of parliament has stayed, without much change, in between eight and 15 percent,” Logar said. Logar mentioned another defining moment in parliament's tumble in the polls: the decision to strip the Democratic Party of Serbia, DSS, of 21 parliament seats. Subsequent trading in mandates, seen as the foundation of MP corruption, marked the period up to 2006, and many experts on parliamentary democracy believe are the basis for parliament’s lack of functionality, poor behavior and even worse image in the eyes of the public. According to Logar, "the situation was cemented by the Constitution, which introduced blank resignations and turned MPs into puppets of their parties, who merely execute the will and interests of the party leaders, and only care about their wages, overblown daily compensation and the possibility of earning good pensions in a short amount of time with little work put in". Trusted by their immediate families: MPs in parliament (Beta, file)

MPs suffer in opinion polls

Director of Strategic Marketing Svetlana Logar said that even "in moments of optimism", such as the EU visa lifting, citizens do not tend to credit parliament, that Serbians do not believe that MPs were responsible for the progress and that “there are no indicators that the rating of parliament can jump in these circumstances”.

The daily writes that the lack of confidence in the Serbian parliament comes because most people believe that it is divides along partisan lines, and that it engages in non-constructive conflicts, that do not benefit the state.

“After the changes of 2000, trust was significantly higher, and the first drop happened quickly, in April 2001, when fights between Vojislav Koštunica and Zoran Đinđić, rather their parties, broke out regarding the arrest of Slobodan Milošević. People saw this as a conflict between parties, not as fighting for the greater good. Since then, the rating of parliament has stayed, without much change, in between eight and 15 percent,” Logar said.

Logar mentioned another defining moment in parliament's tumble in the polls: the decision to strip the Democratic Party of Serbia, DSS, of 21 parliament seats.

Subsequent trading in mandates, seen as the foundation of MP corruption, marked the period up to 2006, and many experts on parliamentary democracy believe are the basis for parliament’s lack of functionality, poor behavior and even worse image in the eyes of the public.

According to Logar, "the situation was cemented by the Constitution, which introduced blank resignations and turned MPs into puppets of their parties, who merely execute the will and interests of the party leaders, and only care about their wages, overblown daily compensation and the possibility of earning good pensions in a short amount of time with little work put in".