Over 60% of Albanians believe that the country’s judicial system is very, or extremely susceptible to political influence and interests.
These were the results of a survey conducted by the Institute for Democracy and Mediation that was carried out in 61 municipalities between November and December 2019.
The General Prosecutor’s Office and the courts are seen a dependent on political influence with 60.5% believing this to be the case. 59% said the prosecution was influenced by the interests of politicians.
Results also showed that only half of respondents believe the justice reform will have a positive impact on the development of the country. 31.5% said that the reform is not being implemented properly.
According to the report, Albanians put more trust in religious institutions (65.5%) followed by the army (59.4%), the State Police (54.6%) educational institutions (57.3%) and the health system (51.4%).
Over three-quarters of those surveyed said that international organisations are in control of the Albanian government. Citizens have little faith in the transparency of local and central government with belief in accountability dropping 8 and 11 percentage points since 2017.
Almost 90% of respondents believe that corruption is widespread and they think that among the most corrupt institutions are the courts and judiciary, the prosecution, and the government.
Concerningly, 65% of respondents don’t feel safe in their day-to-day life with the main concerns being injustice, crime, and job insecurity.
Almost 1 in 2 Albanians want to move outside the country. Those with higher income, a university degree, women, and those who are unemployed are more likely to move out of Albania.
On a positive note, 76.5% of respondents said that women are just as capable to hold public office as men and 6 out of 10 say increasing the number of women in municipal councils is a good thing.
