(03/05/10) -

Czech Social Democrats Keep Upper Hand

(Angus Reid Global Monitor) – People in the Czech Republic continue to place the opposition Czech Social Democratic Party (CSSD) as the most popular political organization, according to a poll by STEM. 28.6 per cent of respondents would vote for the CSSD in this year’s legislative ballot.

(Angus Reid Global Monitor) – People in the Czech Republic continue to place the opposition Czech Social Democratic Party (CSSD) as the most popular political organization, according to a poll by STEM. 28.6 per cent of respondents would vote for the CSSD in this year’s legislative ballot.

The ruling Civic Democratic Party (ODS) is in second place with 23.2 per cent, followed by the Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia (KSCM) with 11.7 per cent, Tradition Responsibility Prosperity 09 (TOP 09) with 9.1 per cent, Public Affairs (VV) with 4.7 per cent, the Christian and Democratic Union – Czech People’s Party (KDU-CSL) with 4.3 per cent, and the Green Party (SZ) with 2.7 per cent.

In June 2006, Czech voters renewed the Chamber of Representatives. Final results gave the ODS 35.58 per cent of all cast ballots, followed by the CSSD with 32.32 per cent. Czech parties require at least five per cent of the vote to earn seats under the country’s proportional representation system. The final tallies gave the ODS, the KDU-CSL and the SZ 10 seats in the lower house, with the remaining 100 seats going to the CSSD and the KSCM.

The tie among rival factions led to a long political stalemate. In January 2007, Czech president Vaclav Klaus re-appointed ODS leader Mirek Topolanek as prime minister.

In March 2009, Topolanek’s government finally lost one of many non-confidence motions tabled by the opposition since 2007. The last motion was in part incited by opposition to the government’s handling of the economy. The leaders of the ODS, KDU-CSL, SZ and CSSD agreed to form an interim cabinet of non-partisan members. Klaus appointed Jan Fischer—a non-partisan, little known public servant who had been heading the Czech Statistical Office (CSU)—to serve as interim prime minister. Fischer took office in May.

Fischer was originally slated to serve until early October 2009, when a new legislative election was supposed to take place. The ballot was postponed due to a Constitutional Court decision, and was re-scheduled for May 28 and May 29, 2010.

Yesterday, Klaus discussed the effect of new parties in the upcoming election, declaring, "This is a totally new situation. I believe that people more or less knew whom to vote until recently and the voter preferences were stable. All this has suddenly changed and this situation is risky."

Polling Data

What party list would you vote for in the next parliamentary election?