About two-thirds of Czechs who have used the European election calculator EUvox consider Islam a threat to Czech society, according to an analysis of the results carried out by the Academy of Sciences Sociological Institute, released today.
The institute assessed the opinions of 18,000 Czechs. More than 1 million people used the application throughout the EU.
EUvox is to help voters in their decision-making. It offers 30 questions. The result is the highest-percentage accord with a party running in the elections.
Islam is feared mainly by those who agreed most with the opposition Dawn and the Civic Democrats (ODS), the extra-parliamentary Party of Free Citizens, and partially also the government ANO movement.
Only about 10 percent of Czechs are not afraid of Islam. The least afraid of it are supporters of the Green Party.
“The all-European comparison shows that Czech users of EUvox take stands that can be marked as the least tolerant of Islam. Islam is seen as a threat in the Czech Republic more than in France or the Netherlands, whose inhabitants have a direct experience with coexistence with the religious minority,” Michaela Vojtková, from the Sociological Institute, said.
According to EUvox, one third of Czechs definitely consider Islam a threat. Overall, two thirds of Czechs are afraid of it.
On the contrary, less than one tenth of EUvox users are definitely opposed to this opinion. About 20 percent of people do not know, or are indifferent to it.
“The results have shown that Europe is afraid of Islam. Practically all over Europe, there are no negligible groups of voters who believe that Islam threatens their cultural traditions,” Vojtková said.
More than 90 percent of Czechs, who agree with the Dawn of Direct Democracy movement see Islam as a threat. More than 70 percent of “voters” of the Party of Free Citizens and the ODS and about 70 percent of those whose opinions are closest to ANO’s consider Islam a threat. About 60 percent of persons whose opinions are closest to the Communists’ (KSČM) and the junior government Christian Democrats’ (KDU-ČSL) are afraid of Islam.
This also applies to about a half of “voters” of the Pirates, the senior government Social Democrats (ČSSD) and the opposition TOP 09. Twenty percent of Greens’ “voters” are afraid of Islam, which is the least proportion.
Islam is feared more by older people. Some 70 percent of people over 60, compared with 44 percent of those aged 18 to 29, are afraid of it. This does not apply to the Dawn’s supporters, who consider Islam a threat irrespective of age.
Some parties and politicians directly speak against Islam. The Dawn movement has taken over in its EP election campaign a poster of Swiss nationalists featuring a black sheep which white sheep are kicking out from their midst.
KDU-ČSL EP election leader Pavel Svoboda first said his party does not want a “Europe full of unadaptable migrants,” but later the sentence was removed from his manifesto.
The spot of the Czech Sovereignty party features politician Jana Volfová enveloped in a burka, warning against Islam and “the stoning of daughters and grand-daughters” over kissing in the street.