KMIS: 43% of Ukrainians believe that the situation with democracy has worsened under Zelenskyi’s rule

Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) published the results of the study, which indicate the deterioration of the state of democracy in Ukraine during the full-scale war.

According to the survey, 43% of Ukrainians believe that the situation with democracy has worsened over the past year. Only 16% of respondents noted an improvement, and 30% did not notice any changes.

Among the main problems that negatively affect democracy, Ukrainians name restrictions on freedom of speech and assembly, corruption, as well as insufficient accountability of the authorities.

Key findings:

• Economy: 17% of respondents believe that the economic situation has improved, 21% see no change, and 49% believe that it has worsened. Among the latter, 23% blame it on erroneous actions of the authorities, and 16.5% – a full-scale invasion.
• Form of government: 74% of Ukrainians favor a strong role for the parliament, which has the right to appoint and dismiss the government. At the same time, 71% believe that the president should also have significant powers. Respondents consider the parliamentary-presidential form of government to be the most acceptable (31%).

Expert commentary:

KMIS analyst Anton Hrushetskyi notes, that although Ukrainians do not see outstanding successes in the sphere of democracy and the economy during Zelenskyi’s presidency, they also do not express harsh accusations against the authorities. He believes that this indicates the absence of both outstanding advances and serious failures in these areas. Hrushetsky emphasizes that the current perception of changes is quite positive against the background of Ukraine’s historical experience. He believes that this leaves room for the president to maintain high support among the population, provided that problems are taken into account and effective decisions are made.