Over 2018, the Institute for Political Studies held a survey with the deputies of the Assembly of Albania in relation to their educational achievements, level and quality of their political engagement, perceptions on politics and parliament, their knowledge of parliamentary rules, bylaws and regulations, and their suggestions for future improvements.
The 2018 survey was designed to capture and record the viewpoints of the MPs and to cross-check these with the perceptions of citizens on similar questions. The findings of this baseline survey hold a significant value in terms of guiding future interventions in the Parliamentary Rules and Regulations, and in the Law on Status of MPs. They provide valuable findings for political parties, for the media, the citizens and for the professionals of parliamentary support work.
ISP has elaborated the data collected from the survey and provided suggestions for future interventions. ISP decided to publish this survey report in the framework of the parliamentary monitoring work for the period September – December 2018, taking into account the particular situation arising from the absence of the opposition in the parliament and the impossibility to assess all of the MPs in terms of their parliamentary activity over this period.
METHODOLOGY
The ISP staff sent a survey questionnaire to all parliamentary groups (collectively) and to over 100 MPs (individually). The responses received from the parliamentary groups were negligible, so the ISP focused its work on pursuing individual contacts with the MPs at parliamentary committees meetings and through direct mail so as to receive full responses.
At the end of the data collection process, 78 MPs returned full responses, and 11 MPs partial responses. In total, this study collected the perceptions and opinions of 89 MPs, or 63% of the total number of 140 MPs of the Assembly of Albania. As government ministers were deducted from the total number of MPs (ISP choose not to survey the government ministers also sitting at the parliament as MPs), then the percentage of the MPs providing input to the present study goes up to 70%. MPs from the SP, DP, SMI and PJUI participated in the ISP survey. Some MPs representing chairs of smaller parties chose not to participate. They provided only partial responses when they did.
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