Social Democrats beat populist ANO in Czech elections

DeutscheWelle, 26 October 2013

The Social Democrats appear to have won elections in the Czech Republic as voters angered by years of right-wing graft and austerity veered left. The CSSD are poised to form a minority government.

With nearly 100 percent of votes counted, the CSSD scored 20.5 percent, Action for Alienated Citizens (ANO: Czech for "yes") won 18.7, and the Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia (KSCM) lagged behind with 15. Likely new premier Bohuslav Sobotka had hinted before polls closed that he could form a minority government with the tacit support of the Communists.

"The result may not be what we imagined but it's the highest score of all parties," 42-year-old Social Democrat leader Sobotka told reporters in Prague after the election, declaring himself "ready to start talks" on a coalition with all parties in parliament.

The election ends seven years of scandal-tainted right-wing rule. Former Finance Minister Sobotka plans to introduce new taxes on banks, utilities and wealth to pay for social programs.

'Better off'

Andrej Babis said his ANO would not back any deal with the Social Democrats. Babis reinvented US President Barack Obama's "Yes We Can" campaign slogan, promising Czechs "Yes, We'll Be Better Off". Babis claims his billions make him immune to bribery and has wooed voters with vows of squeaky clean politics.

"We won't support a Cabinet comprising the CSSD," said the Slovak-born media magnate Babis.

Winning parties often woo smaller factions or independent members of parliament to form coalition governments. Babis, the Czech Republic's second-wealthiest man, said that, no matter what the CSSD managed to cobble together, his party would prefer to stay in the opposition.

"We'll be terribly glad to prevent the rise of left-wingers backed by Communists," said the 59-year-old, himself a former Communist.

An elective backlash

Right-wing Prime Minister Petr Necas gave up his post in June amid an affair over surveillance and bribery. His Civil Democrats won 8 percent Saturday. The allied right-wing Top 09 also fared poorly Saturday, but took about 12 percent.

Both parties will remain in parliament. Voters had already swung left in January, electing former Communist Milos Zeman as president after a decade under the right-wing euroskeptic Vaclav Klaus.

Polls opened Friday afternoon and closed 24 hours later on Saturday. Unlike other EU countries, predictions via exit polls were not expected. The 200 seats in the Chamber of Deputies, the lower house, were contested by nearly 5,900 candidates. Voter turnout topped 59 percent.

The Czech Republic, home to 10.5 million people and an EU member, has existed since its

1993 Velvet Divorce from Slovakia. That followed the collapse of communism and four decades of totalitarian rule in the former Czechoslovakia, which ended in 1989's Velvet Revolution.

mkg/rc (Reuters, AFP)