Prague - A decreasing confidence of Czechs in politics has now extended to municipal and regional authorities, which are generally more popular with the public than national political bodies.

A survey conducted by the STEM agency before tomorrow's regional elections and Senate by-elections, shows that 67 percent of those polled trust municipal authorities and 60 percent trust regional governments.

Compared with February, their popularity has dropped by 6 and 5 percentage points, respectively.

"This year's development is unfavourable to all levels of administration," STEM wrote in a commentary.

Yet, municipal and regional governments remain much more trusted than the national government.

For example, only 24 percent have confidence in PM Mirek Topolánek's centre-right cabinet, the lowest support since May 2004, when the centre-left government of Social Democrat Vladimír Špidla was experiencing a crisis and its popularity dropped even deeper. Špidla was then replaced as premier by Stanislav Gross from the same party.

Paradoxically, it was Špidla's government who in November 2002 won the trust of 55 percent of Czechs in a STEM poll, the highest popularity ever enjoyed by a Czech government.