Citizens’ satisfaction with the work of the Parliament has been continuously growing for the third year in a row, according to the latest poll by the Swiss Parliamentary Support Programme, titled “A View of the Parliament: Citizens’ Perceptions of the Work of the Parliament of the Republic of North Macedonia (2026)”.
Citizens rate the work of the Parliament with an average score of 2.7 on a scale of 1 to 5 – compared to 2.5 in 2025 and 2.3 in 2024. Despite the positive trend, the score still remains below the average, indicating that expectations from the Parliament in the upcoming period remain high.
The poll shows a moderate increase in citizens’ trust in most institutions in the last two years.
Trust in the Parliament has increased – from 4.6 in 2025 to 4.8 in 2026 on a scale of 1 to 10. Citizens continue to have the highest trust in the military and religious communities, with scores of 6.0 and 5.9, while the judiciary and the public prosecution remain at the bottom with 3.5 and 3.6.
The oversight role of the Parliament continues to stand out as the weakest link in citizens’ perceptions. Respondents more often believe that the Government has a greater influence on the Parliament than the Parliament effectively controls the executive branch, and besides parliamentary questions, they rarely recognize other attempts at oversight. This indicates the need for greater visibility, more efficient use and better communication of oversight mechanisms.
A positive shift is also observed in terms of the perception of the direction in which the country is moving. In the last two years, the share of citizens who believe that life in North Macedonia is moving in the right direction has been growing – from 17% in 2024 to 28% in 2026. However, the majority of citizens, i.e. 51%, still believe that the country is moving in the wrong direction, which shows that optimism is growing, but remains fragile.
The research “A View of the Parliament: Citizens’ Perceptions of the Work of the Parliament of the Republic of North Macedonia (2026)” was commissioned by the National Democratic Institute (NDI), and field-conducted by the Institute for Democracy SocietasCivilis – Skopje (IDSCS), as part of the Parliamentary Support Program, a project of the Government of Switzerland, implemented by the National Democratic Institute (NDI), the Institute for Democracy SocietasCivilis – Skopje (IDSCS) and the Center for Change Management (CCM).
