As Table 1 reveals, the voters feel almost no confidence in most state and public institutions. Only in the first four cases the number of those who trust them is higher than the number of those who distrust them. Orthodox Church tops the list leaving other institutions far behind. Clearly, 72.6% of the adult population consider themselves supporters of the Orthodox denomination. The second place on the basis of index of trust, which takes into account the number of those who trust and distrust, is given to independent research centers beating the army. Thus, the traditional Slavic triad of trust “God, tsar and military commander” is broken: if Church and Army are placed among the top three, the president takes only the 9thplace, lagging behind research centers, mass media, unions of entrepreneurs and the Constitutional Court.
Table 1. Distribution of answers to the question: “Do you trust the following state and public institutions?”, %
Institutions |
Trust
|
Distrust
|
Trust index
|
Orthodox Church |
65.7
|
22.4
|
+0.435
|
Independent research centers |
43.9
|
26.4
|
+0.177
|
Army |
49.8
|
37.2
|
+0.126
|
State-run research centers |
38.6
|
35.5
|
+0.032
|
State-run mass media |
40.4
|
44.2
|
–0.039
|
Non-state mass media |
37.1
|
42.4
|
–0.054
|
Unions of entrepreneurs |
31.3
|
38.5
|
–0.073
|
Constitutional Court |
36.4
|
43.9
|
–0.076
|
President |
38.2
|
48.3
|
–0.101
|
Roman Catholic Church |
32.9
|
43.2
|
–0.103
|
Free and independent labor unions |
29.4
|
42.1
|
–0.128
|
Labor unions of the Belarusian Federation of Labor Unions |
27.8
|
45.4
|
–0.176
|
Government |
29.5
|
53.6
|
–0.243
|
KGB |
26.7
|
51.7
|
–0.252
|
Courts |
28.7
|
54.9
|
–0.263
|
Central Election Commission |
26.6
|
53.7
|
–0.272
|
National Assembly |
23.1
|
50.7
|
–0.278
|
Political parties, which support the authorities |
21.7
|
55.1
|
–0.337
|
Local Executive Committees |
23.2
|
58.7
|
–0.357
|
Opposition political parties |
18.4
|
55.0
|
–0.370
|
Local Councils of Deputies |
22.5
|
59.8
|
–0.375
|
Police |
24.6
|
63.4
|
–0.390
|
Protestant Church |
13.4
|
58.4
|
–0.454
|
Table 2. Distribution of answers to the question: “Do you trust the following Belarusian politicians and public figures?”, %
Person |
Trust
|
Distrust
|
Do not know him/her
|
Trust index
|
Alexander Lukashenko |
37.0
|
45.3
|
2.9
|
–0.086
|
Mikhail Myasnikovich |
16.8
|
25.1
|
44.9
|
–0.155
|
Gennady Novitsky |
21.2
|
35.0
|
26.4
|
–0.189
|
Lidia Yermioshina |
18.7
|
35.5
|
27.5
|
–0.236
|
Leonid Kozik |
13.9
|
28.8
|
42.6
|
–0.263
|
Grigory Vasilevich |
10.2
|
20.7
|
58.9
|
–0.264
|
Ural Latypov |
13.3
|
30.3
|
43.6
|
–0.307
|
Piotr Prokopovich |
11.2
|
28.0
|
47.9
|
–0.330
|
Valentin Sukalo |
8.9
|
23.1
|
56.2
|
–0.333
|
Anatoly Lebedko |
11.5
|
31.1
|
40.6
|
–0.340
|
Alexander Voitovich |
7.7
|
23.4
|
55.4
|
–0.364
|
Nikolai Starikevich |
9.1
|
29.3
|
45.6
|
–0.380
|
Valery Frolov |
5.7
|
20.1
|
62.3
|
–0.396
|
Viktor Sheiman |
10.4
|
32.0
|
44.8
|
–0.397
|
Vadim Popov |
7.0
|
25.1
|
55.1
|
–0.407
|
Stanislav Shushkevich |
15.5
|
51.2
|
15.1
|
–0.424
|
Sergei Gaidukevich |
13.4
|
48.3
|
19.9
|
–0.440
|
Vintsuk Vecherko |
9.6
|
35.2
|
41.9
|
–0.448
|
Sergei Kalyakin |
9.4
|
40.8
|
35.3
|
–0.492
|
Zenon Poznyak |
9.3
|
58.9
|
17.2
|
–0.607
|