Abstract: Corruption is one of the major social and economic problems in the Czech Republic as evidenced by numerous opinion polls among both the business community and the general public. In survey questionnaires, citizens regularly refer to corruption as one of the most substantial issues. Th is paper focuses, however, on how corruption is perceived by elected representatives, meaning both regional and local politicians. The data is based on survey which was part of an international research project which collected data from councilors in towns with more than 10,000 citizens, then on research we had conducted amongst 83 mayors of the Hradec Kralove Region in February 2017. We also draw on data from the Czech Social Science Data Archive that employs them from various surveys of the Institute of Sociology of the Czech Academy of Sciences and works within the NESSTAR analytical platform. Th is paper explores assumptions concerning elected local representatives and their perceptions of corruption.

Keywords: corruption, public administration, elected representatives of regional and local politics, the Czech Republic