PRESIDENT Nicos Anastasiades and his administration fare better on economic performance on than the settlement negotiations, the findings of a survey revealed on Tuesday.
Some 500 people participated In the survey carried out last week by the University of Nicosia on behalf of daily Simerini.
Asked on their overall satisfaction as to the president’s performance during these past four years, more than half of the respondents – 52 per cent – said they were satisfied, but when asked to rate his administration, the majority – 53 per cent – expressed their dissatisfaction with the work done so far.
Almost two thirds of respondents – 64 per cent – said that the president- four years into his administration – had not kept his election promises. Eight in ten believe that Anastasiades will be running again for president in the 2018 elections.
As regards the government’s work, respondents appear to be more satisfied by its performance on issues concerning the economy, than the Cyprus problem. Specifically, 41 per cent said they were very or quite satisfied as regarded the government’s performance on the economy compared to the 35 per cent who said the same as regards the Cyprus problem.
Only seven per cent of respondents believe that there has been great progress the past four years as regards the Cyprus issue, while almost one third said that no progress was achieved at all. More than two in ten said that there has been sufficient progress.
The majority – 46 per cent – said that they were against a settlement solution that would include the terms currently under discussion, while, in another question, more than half expressed the belief that the president would present a settlement solution worse than the 2004 UN Annan plan.
More than four in ten said they were very or quite satisfied by the president’s handling of the Cyprus problem, almost a third said they were somewhat satisfied, while 24 per cent expressed their dissatisfaction.
As regards their expectations of the president, one third said they were greatly or very satisfied, more than one third said they were satisfied, but ‘in a small scale’ and one third answered negatively.
Of those who said that they find the Anastasiades administration successful, almost half, put it down to the overall improvement in the economy.
The haircut on bank deposits and the deadlock in the settlement talks were also, according to respondents, the biggest failures of the Anastasiades administration, followed by high unemployment rates and the non-implementation of national health scheme.
The most popular minister in the Anastasiades administration, according to the survey is Defence Minister Christoforos Fokaides, followed by Energy Minister Giorgos Lakkotrypis and Agriculture Minister Nicos Kouyialis. Least popular is Justice Minister Ionas Nicolaou.
Almost eight in ten respondents said that they liked the Government Spokesman, Nicos Christodoulides.
