Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/. A survey has shown that the public is supportive of the works that have been done by Prime Minister U.Khurelsukh against corruption in the government. 41.8 percent of the participants answered, ‘I expect the current Government to take certain measures on the matter, and improve the current state of corruption’, according to the survey results introduced by Asia Foundation Country Representative Mark Koenig.

The results of the survey co-conducted by Asia Foundation, and Sant Maral Foundation to determine public perceptions and knowledge of corruption in 2019 were introduced on December 6. The participants of the survey were selected using the random sampling method. 93.6 percent of the citizens that were involved considered corruption to be common in Mongolia. It must also be noted that the number of citizens that admitted to having paid a bribe in the last 3 months has reduced to 3.3 percent.

As for organizations and institutions that are most involved with corruption, political parties were ranked first, with legal and judicial institutions in the second, which shows that citizens’ trust in the institutions has lowered. During the presentation, CEO of Sant Maral Foundation L.Sumati said, “However, this is merely an assumption.”

Noting that the survey has been conducted annually throughout the years to get a clear definition of the range of corruption, and public knowledge, he highlighted that the aims of the 2019 survey are to bring the citizens’ attitude, knowledge, and perception about corruption to law and policymakers as well as civil society.

87 percent of this year’s participants deemed the government’s countermeasures for corruption as insufficient, alongside putting their trust in the operations of the Independent Authority Against Corruption.

Sant Maral Foundation CEO L.Sumati said, “The survey has shown that corruption is widespread for the last several years. However, there is a question why corruption continues to be common when petty bribery continues to lower. This means that high-level corruption has become widespread. The Government was ranked first for the question, ‘Who should combat high-level corruption?’. Thus, the participation of civil society is considered as crucial if the Government is unable to do so.”

To briefly introduce the survey results introduced by Asia Foundation Country Representative Mark Koenig:

• 93.6 percent of the 2019 participants agreed that corruption has become common in the country, which is an increased statistic than that of 2018. Despite this, the lowering trend of petty bribes continues, with 3.3 percent in 2019.

• Negative attitude towards the level of corruption in political parties and the judicial system has increased in 2019.

• The tendency to consider politicians’ wish to combat corruption as insufficient continues, with 88 percent of the participants deeming that politicians have little to no wish to solve the issue of corruption. 

• Despite the significance of social media continuing to rise, television has once again been considered by the public as the most important source of information on corruption.