Around 70% of Moroccans do not trust political parties in Morocco, according to a survey conducted by the Moroccan Institute for Policy Analysis. In a new survey about trust, the Moroccan Institute for Policy Analysis (MIPA) revealed that Moroccans trust each other moderately. Released on Thursday, the second edition of MIPA's Trust Index suggests that 60% of respondents believe that Moroccans trust each other. Based on the answers of 1,400 people aged 18 and over between July 15 and August 31, 2020, the survey shows that 61% of the respondents said they somewhat trust others. The index shows that social trust in Morocco is «mainly related to the nuclear and the extended family». Hence, 99% of the respondents said that their most trusted institution is their family, followed by extended family at 85%. Meanwhile, 72% of the respondents said that they do not trust people they meet for the first time. 67% others said that they do not trust people of other religions. 64% of the interviewees said that they do not trust people of other nationalities, 45% said that they do not trust their neighbors and 37% said that they do not trust their friends. As for befriending strangers, the data show that 71% of the respondents said that they do not mind having friends of a different religion. 74% agree to have refugee friends, 29% accept friends who do not believe in God, and 19% accept having homosexual friends. Little interest in politics and less trust in parties The 1,400 respondents were also asked about political trust. Around 36% of them said that they follow politics with interest, while 46% do not follow politics at all. MIPA indicates that 98% of the respondents are not even members of a political party. On the other hand, 32% of the respondents said that they plan to vote in the next election (2021). «About two-thirds of the respondents (64%) do not consider voting in the next elections», the survey found. As for trusting political parties in Morocco, 74% of the interviewees said they do not trust them (69% last year). 70% say they do not trust the parliament. However, researchers noticed that the government «has significantly increased this year, as 50% of Moroccans said they trust the current government compared to 23% last year». And unlike political institutions, unelected sovereign institutions enjoy much higher levels of trust. 86% of Moroccans trust the police and 89% of them trust the Royal Armed Forces. Education, health, corruption and trust As for the health and education sectors, 65% of the respondents said they are satisfied with the quality of public education in Morocco, and 64% are satisfied with the quality of private education. By sector, confidence in private education fell from 83.2% last year to 70% this year, while confidence in public education rose from 48% to 66%. As for health, satisfaction with the sector's services remains «very low». In fact, 59% expressed dissatisfaction with public services while 71% said they were satisfied with private sector services. Asked about corruption, only 35% of Moroccans are satisfied with the government's efforts. Half of those polled (52%) believe that the government is trying to fight corruption, but that it is unable to do better. 87% believe that corruption is widespread in the public health sector and 55% believe that corruption and favoritism are widespread in the private health sector. According to them, it even affects the education sector since 48% and 45% respectively consider that corruption is widespread in the public and private educational systems. Globally, around 66% of Moroccans believe that the government's efforts to fight corruption are ineffective, 70% of those questioned expressed concern about the general trend of the country and 65% are unhappy with the economic situation.
