Polls conducted Oct. 20 to 24, which involved 1,650 respondents, give Aharon Adibekyan, Director of the Sociometer center, the grounds to say that the majority of Armenia’s population trusts the authorities.

At a meeting with journalists Jan. 19, Adibekyan said that President Serzh Sargsya is leader. Specifically, 35% of the respondents believe that the socio-economic situation in Armenia is dependent on him, and 17% consider him the most influential person in Armenia. Chairman of the Prosperous Armenia Party (PAP) Gagik Tsarukyan ranks second (13% and 7.5% respectively, followed by Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan (8.5% of the respondents consider him the most influential persons, and 6% trust him).

The questions proved difficult for 26.7% of the respondents. Generally, 65% of Armenia’s politically active population consider the Establishment to be influential, but only 35% trust the authorities. Thus, the trust/influence ratio is 54.5%. As regards the Opposition, 8.3% of the respondents consider it influential, 11.5% trust it, the influence/trust ratio being 138%.

Adibekyan pointed out that by the Opposition the respondents mostly meant Armenia’s first president Levon Ter-Petrosyan, Chairman of the Heritage Party Raffi Hovhannisyan, and Chairman of the ARF-D parliamentary faction Vahan Hovhannisyan.

According to the poll results, 4% of the respondents consider Ter-Petrosyan an influential person, and 4.5% trust him.