The overwhelming majority of the population of Ukraine (80 percent) consider the fight against corruption in the country to be unsuccessful, while 46 percent regard it as a complete failure, according to a sociological survey conducted by the Ilko Kucheriv Democratic Initiatives Foundation along with the Razumkov Center’s sociological service.
According to the results of the survey released at a press conference in Kyiv on Jan. 11, 15 percent of respondents see success in the fight against corruption, and only 2.5 percent consider this fight to be completely successful.
At the same time, 43 percent of Ukrainians polled by sociologists do not see any institution that would actively fight corruption in Ukraine. Other Ukrainians think that active fighters against corruption are the media and journalists (26 percent), the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (24 percent), anti-corruption public organizations (21 percent), the population (12 percent), and Western countries (11 percent).
Among state institutions designed to tackle corruption, according to respondents, only the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (10 percent) and the National Agency on Corruption Prevention (9 percent) look relatively better than others. At the same time, such state institutions as the Prosecutor General’s Office (5 percent), the Security Service of Ukraine (6 percent), the police (3 percent), courts (2 percent), the president (3 percent), the government, ministries 2 percent), the Verkhovna Rada (1 percent), local authority (2 percent) are not seen as “fighters against corruption.”
In the issue of forming an anti-corruption court, Ukrainians are ready to trust two institutions – representatives of anti-corruption public organizations (42 percent) and experts from Western countries (41 percent). Significantly fewer Ukrainians are ready to entrust this matter to the deputies of the Verkhovna Rada (10 percent), judges from judicial self-government bodies (10 percent), and representatives of the president (6 percent).
In addition, over half of Ukrainians surveyed (54 percent) believe that the country should legislatively permit the use of the bribery provocation method to combat corruption among officials, and 26 percent of respondents do not agree with this.
The nationwide survey was carried out by the Ilko Kucheriv Democratic Initiatives Foundation together with the sociological service of the Razumkov Center from Dec. 15 to Dec. 19 in all regions of Ukraine except for Crimea and occupied territories of Donetsk and Luhansk regions. A total of 2,004 respondents aged over 18 years were interviewed. The poll’s margin of error does not exceed 2.3 percent. The survey was funded as part of the Matra project of the Dutch Embassy in Ukraine.
