IRI survey: SPAK, the most trusted institution in Albania

2025-01-14 19:19:00, Aktualitet CNA

The International Republican Institute (IRI) has just published the National Survey for Albania, where SPAK continues to remain the most trusted institution in the country, according to survey data.

According to the findings, the Special Structure Against Corruption and Organized Crime (SPAK) is today the most trusted institution in Albania (76%), followed by the police, the army and religious institutions, while the least trusted institutions are the Parliament and political parties.

The study is based on the responses of one thousand two hundred citizens aged 18 to over 56.

The majority of respondents (59%) believe that the reform of the justice system is effective, while (70%) of them believe that the effectiveness of justice increased after the vetting of judges and the establishment of SPAK.

Nearly half of respondents (47%) think that the creation of SPAK is the best result of justice reform, followed by vetting (27%) and (13%) the weakening of political influence over the courts, VOA writes.

After the completion of the justice reform, citizens believe that the most important things to do now are fighting corruption, investigating and punishing politicians, and ensuring independence from government influence.

They trust the US (46%) and the EU (37%) more to monitor the new justice institutions, including SPAK and the courts, several times less to the Prime Minister (7%), and only 1 percent trust the Parliament.

More than half of respondents (51%) from all age groups stated that they would not support any party in the elections that supports laws to limit the work of SPAK.

Nearly 40 percent of citizens stated that their assessment of SPAK would improve if SPAK investigated politicians they have supported in the past.

“For the third time in our surveys, SPAK is the most trusted institution in Albania,” John Fluharty, IRI’s Albania director, told VOA. “A large number of citizens said that if SPAK were to investigate a candidate or party that they previously supported, it would increase their support for SPAK. Even more significant is the finding that if people discover that a candidate or party supports limiting SPAK from doing its job, they are less likely to support that party or candidate. This means that citizens have hope. They see hope in SPAK’s work, they see hope in fighting corruption, which they didn’t have before. This is really significant,” Fluharty said./ CNA