Head of RO emergency service, three times more popular than PM Orban

Secretary of state Raed Arafat, one of the key people in charge with managing the new coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis in Romania, is the personality that enjoys the highest confidence of all local decision makers, according to a survey conducted by IRES, Adevarulreported.

The IRES survey revealed that 77.9% of Romanians trust Arafat very much, which makes him the most trusted among the top public servants involved in the campaign against the coronavirus pandemic.

President Klaus Iohannis, with 38.7%, is second in the ranking, while health minister Nelu Tataru (36.5%), ranks third.

Interior minister Marcel Vela has a confidence rate of 25.8% while prime minister Ludovic Orban only reaches 24.5%.

When it comes to institutions, the trust in Government (26%) is the weakest, roughly half of that enjoyed by the Local Police (46%) and one third of the trust in the Army or Emergency Services (DSU).

Even among the voters of the ruling Liberal Party, the Government’s trust balance is negative in the sense that 56% of the PNL voters do not trust it while only 44% of them trust it.

However, 56% of the polled subjects see the Government’s actions related to the coronavirus pandemic as being “good” and 12% see them as “very good”.

The IRES survey was conducted on April 7-8, by telephone, on a sample of 1,055 people. The margin of error is +/- 3%.

(Photo: Octav Ganea/ Inquam Photos)