The nationwide survey published by Transparency Maldives, the local wing of the international corruption watchdog Transparency International, points to a continuing crisis of public confidence in key state institutions. It shows that most citizens lack confidence in key state institutions including the parliament and the courts. Fifty-seven per cent of survey respondents say they have no confidence at all in the parliament. This is, however, an improvement of five points compared to 2013. Courts saw a drop of confidence level by five points, compared to 2013. Over a majority (51 per cent) of Maldivians now say they have no confidence at all in courts compared to 46 per cent in 2013. Strikingly, there was a major decrease of confidence level in the Elections Commission, with a drop of 17 percentage points compared to 2013. A majority (56%) still have confidence in the the Elections Commission. Political parties saw an improvement of nine percentage points, although almost half (49%) still have no confidence at all in them. The survey report, entitled “a troubled future for Democracy: The results of the 2015 Maldives Democracy Survey,' argued that if public lack confidence in institutions, citizens are unlikely to defend those institutions and institutions are unlikely to be effective links between citizens and the state. According to the Maldives Democracy Survey, the second such survey conducted by the corruption watchdog, Maldivians continue to be highly cynical of politics. Seventy-one per cent of Maldivians say that the government does not care about ordinary people and 94 per cent of Maldivians believe that politicians are “ready to lie to get elected”. The survey shows that citizens continue to be critical of the social order: 80 per cent think that power is concentrated in the hands of too few people. The good news, however, is that 97 per cent of the public believe dialogue is the way to solve the country’s problem. The bad news is that one in three thinks that violence is sometimes a necessary response to injustice. Only 32 per cent of Maldivians say that the country is headed in the “right direction”. While 59 per cent of the population believe that Maldives is a democracy, only 45 per cent of them are satisfied with the way democracy works in the Maldives. Seventy-two per cent of Maldivians believe that level of corruption in the country has increased over the past year. While membership in political parties is high among Maldivians, the survey indicates that only 22 per cent of Maldivians believe that parties serve the interest of the Maldivian people. The most significant positive developments since the first survey, which was conducted ahead of the 2013 presidential elections, concern citizens’ support for democracy. Most Maldivians, according to the survey, prefer democracy as a form of government. A solid majority of 63 per cent people believe that despite its problems democracy is still the best system compared to 59 per cent in 2013. Seventy-seven per cent of the respondents also think a democratic form of government is good for the country. However, such a straightforward positive conclusion is hard to be made about attitudes towards gender equality. Fifty-four per cent of Maldivians now agree with the statement that men make better leaders than women, compared to 61 per cent who agreed with the statement, indicating that despite the slight improvement support for gender equality is still worryingly low. But Maldivians are supportive of women being in some leadership positions. Eighty-four per cent of respondents support women being elected to the parliament and 79 per cent of Maldivians support the idea of women working as cabinet ministers. Unfortunately these trends do not hold for the position of a judge and the country’s top leadership including the posts of president and vice president. Only 39 per cent of Maldivians support a woman being elected as the president of the country. “The survey shows that citizens are less likely to meaningfully participate in public matters and protect democratic institutions as they have no faith in them. If so, it should not be surprising to see democratic declines and increase in impunity and corruption,” Mariyam Shiuna, Executive Director of Transparency Maldives, said at a press conference held at the Society for Health Education’s (SHE) seminar room Tuesday to release the findings of the survey. Shiuna stressed that democratic institutions and politicians must take extraordinary measures to regain public trust. Citizens, in their part, must step up to hold public officials to account, she said. “Political parties play a crucial role in democracies as they organise politics for citizens. The survey clearly shows the need for parties to reconnect with the people to achieve genuine democratic reforms,” she added. In a press release, Transparency Maldives said its second democracy survey was conducted between May 20 and June 15. As in the benchmark 2013 survey, the 2015 nationwide random survey of the Maldivian public mostly used repeatedly tested questions, the organisation said. “Democracy surveys such as this one are widely conducted throughout the world. These surveys are grounded in the belief that successful democratisation requires a corresponding set of supporting democratic values, orientations, and attitudes,” the statement read.