The Czech general elections

• A nightmare for our democratic political culture - 08-06-2006 11:46:41 - Only logged activists can post a comment, please sign in or register here

  The Czech elections are over and we already know the results - but we have results that do not solve the political situation. ODS is the winner (35,4%) and ČSSD is the second (32,3% of votes). There won’t be a government without coalitions partners. The compositions that had been announced before elections are as following: ODS with KDU-ČSL (Christian Democrats) and the Greens on one side, ČSSD and the Communist Party on the other. But the result is 100 seats in the House of Deputies for both sides: These are quite complicated elections results.
  
  The president has nominated Mirek Topolánek, the leader of ODS, to create the new government. The ČSSD will have a "zero tolerance" strategy facing them and consequently we can guess that a new ODS-government will have difficulties to govern with a no-seat-majority.
  
  Some politicians are proposing a big coalition. In the Czech Republic we already had an experience with a similar kind of model (not a big coalition but a tolerated minority government): From 1998 to 2002 the ČSSD with its minority government was tolerated by the opposition ODS. But now a cooperation between ODS and ČSSD seems rather unlikely. Nevertheless politics is politics and tomorrow everything can change.
  
  There are three other possibilities - 1/ government consisted of “apolitical” persons (proposal of ČSSD), 2/ early elections or 3/ "buying" deputies from the other side to obtain a majority. The first possibility is being refused by ODS. Early elections would be "interesting" - new campaigns after having wasted all resources for the recent contest. Furthermore the public opinion is against repeating elections. The third possibility is a nightmare for our democratic political culture.
  
  Before I was feeling bad and now I feel sad. Because the ODS has been so aggressive and disrespecting to democratic rules and usage, but also because Jiří Paroubek (the top-candidate of the ČSSD) refused to accept the results of the election. Considering the unfair and slanderous attacks of ODS, his reaction is personally comprehensive but it adds fuel to the flames where we should try to find a new political equilibrium for our country.
  
  Now, we must wait and see how the story develops. I hope that somehow there will be an effective working Czech government with strong social aspects. I wish economic growth and prosperity in the next years. And I still hope for a bright future of the Czech Republic.

   

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