Parliament Watch: Citizens’ Perceptions of the Work of the Parliament of the Republic of North Macedonia (2026)

Citizens rated the work of the Parliament with an average score of 2.7, marking a slight improvement compared to previous years, while still indicating a relatively low level of satisfaction.

This is one of the key findings of the public opinion analysis “Parliament Watch: Citizens’ Perceptions of the Work of the Parliament of the Republic of North Macedonia (2026)“, published by the Institute for Democracy “Societas Civilis” – Skopje (IDSCS) within the framework of the Parliamentary Support Programme (PSP).

The analysis presents citizens’ perceptions of the work of the Parliament, its openness, oversight role, and the quality of parliamentary debate.

The survey was conducted between 27 February and 10 March 2026 through a field survey with 1,002 respondents across the country.

Key findings from the executive summary include:

• Citizens rated the work of the Parliament with an average score of 2.7, marking a slight improvement compared to previous years, although overall satisfaction remains relatively low.
• Citizens found the oversight hearing in the Standing Inquiry Committee for Protection of Human Rights and Freedoms regarding the tragedy in Kochani and the debate on the Draft Budget of the Republic of North Macedonia for 2026 to be particularly memorable, which indicates that these topics had the greatest public visibility.
• Citizens continue to rely primarily on private television stations for information about the work of the Parliament, although the use of the internet and social media as sources of information is increasing, especially among younger generations.
• Citizens perceive that the Government has greater influence over the Parliament than the Parliament has effective oversight over the executive branch.
• Respondents identified adopting high-quality laws, overseeing the Government, and monitoring the implementation of laws and policies as the Parliament’s most important functions, while also believing these functions are fulfilled only with moderate success.\
• More than half of respondents believe the Parliament is insufficiently open to the public, while many citizens do not know who their MP is and have never contacted an MP.
• The prevailing perception is that MPs primarily represent personal and party interests, while citizens’ interests remain secondary.
• Citizens believe parliamentary debates are dominated by confrontation rather than cooperation, with degrading and derogatory speech frequently present.
• There is significant public support for forming cross-party groups in the Parliament, particularly on issues related to youth, anti-corruption, unemployment, and persons with disabilities.

Read the report:
Parliament Watch: Citizens’ Perceptions of the Work of the Parliament of the Republic of North Macedonia (2026)

This publication has been prepared within the framework of the Parliamentary Support Programme (PSP), a project of the Government of Switzerland under the auspices of the Parliament of the Republic of North Macedonia. The PSP is implemented by the National Democratic Institute (NDI), the Institute for Democracy “Societas Civilis” – Skopje (IDSCS) and the Center for Change Management (CCM). The opinions, views and content expressed do not reflect the views of the project, the donor and the implementer.