Speaker of the Parliament and one of the leaders of the ruling Homeland Union–Lithuanian Christian Democrats party, Irena Degutienė, as well as MEP and leader of the Labor Party, Viktor Uspaskich, standing trial in a party bookkeeping case, share the second place with 7.7 percent. A month, ago, they received 6.4 and 7.3 percent respectively, according to the results of a survey by public opinion and market research company Vilmorus for the daily Lietuvos Rytas, carried out on 1-12 June.
The survey also showed that 5.5 percent voted for leader of the opposition Social Democratic Party of Lithuania, Algirdas Butkevičius, up by 0.5 percent as compared with May. MEP and leader of the Order and Justice Party, Rolandas Paksas, received 4.6 percent (3.5 percent in May). Only 4.2 percent of Lithuanian residents believe that Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius is the politician representing their interests best, though his rating rose from 2.8 percent in May.
Opposition parties retain popularity
The opposition Social Democratic Party, Labor Party, as well as Order and Justice Party remain the most popular parties in Lithuania, the Lietuvos Rytas reports.
If general elections were held upcoming Sunday, the Labor Party would receive 17.1 percent and the Social Democratic Party would get 13.7 percent of the vote. Their ratings dropped, however, from 19.3 and 15 percent, respectively, in May.
The Order and Justice Party came in third, with its rating rising to 10.7 percent from 8.6 percent in May. The party is followed by the ruling Homeland Union–Lithuanian Christian Democrats whose rating inched higher to 8.4 percent from 7.6 percent.
The results also revealed that the remaining parties would fail to exceed the 5-percent of the vote threshold needed to get into the Parliament.
Trust in the President's office drops
Lithuanian people have the greatest trust in fire fighters, as 90.3 percent said in June they trusted the service, unchanged from May.
According to the results of the Vilmorus survey, the army came in second, though its rating dropped slightly to 52.3 percent from 56 percent in May.
The President's Office saw the biggest fall in public confidence, with 55.3 percent saying they trusted the institution, compared to 60.8 percent in May.
Trust in the police dropped to 39.5 percent from 41.2 percent in May.
In June, fewer people also trusted the education system (44.8 percent), the social insurance fund (Sodra) (44.5 percent), the media (33.2 percent) and the Constitution Court (30.9 percent).
Meanwhile trust in the Church (51.1 percent), the healthcare system (41.1 percent), courts (17.3 percent), and the government (13.6 percent) rose.
Trust in the Parliament rose to 6.3 percent from 4.7 percent in May, and the distrust rating dropped to 69.4 percent from 70.1 percent last month.
Trust in political parties, which are at the bottom of the list of trusted institutions, went up slightly, to 5 percent, but the distrust level rose to 73.6 percent.
