Paroubek concedes defeat in Czech election

Jun 4, 2006, 11:43 GMT

Prague - Prime Minister Jiri Paroubek softened a fighting posture Sunday and conceded defeat to a right-wing opposition party that officially won the Czech Republic election.

'I support our withdrawal to the opposition,' Paroubek said on a Czech Television show, one day after voters picked the Civic Democrats (ODS) over his incumbent, left-wing Social Democrats (CSSD).

Earlier, after ballot-counting Saturday night, Paroubek had angrily refused to admit defeat and said his party might contest the results based on what he said were ODS' 'manipulative' campaign tactics.

Paroubek said Sunday that he would continue considering legal action against ODS and leader Mirek Topolanek after a police report highly critical of CSSD and the premier was released just days before the election.

Despite the squabbling, the State Election Commission said ODS won 35 per cent of the vote compared with 32 per cent for CSSD, which has controlled the government since 1998.

Paroubek's concession cleared the way for post-election talks on a power transition and building the next coalition government.

President Vaclav Klaus will oversee the negotiations, which were set to begin Monday but could take several weeks.

Those talks could include a possible power-sharing arrangement between ODS and CSSD, since ODS did not win enough votes to control the 200-seat lower chamber of parliament. The two parties formerly shared power under an 'opposition agreement' that was abandoned five years ago.

In a Sunday morning interview on Czech Radio, ODS Vice Chairman Petr Necas called for dialogue that could lead to a so-called grand coalition of right- and left-wing parties.

Communist party leader Vojtech Filip, whose KSCM party won 12 per cent of the vote, similarly called for a 'government of national agreement' to prevent legislative gridlock.

ODS was expected to pick the Christian Democrats (KDU) as a coalition partner and possibly the Green Party (SZ), which won 7 per cent and 6 per cent of the ballots, respectively.

But even an ODS-KDU-SZ matchup would not have a parliamentary majority.

Meanwhile, CSSD was expected to draw closer in parliament to the far-left KSCM. But that party combination also would fall short of a majority.

Topolanek, 50, was a likely candidate to replace Paroubek, 53, who took office a year ago after a financial scandal forced former CSSD leader and prime minister Stanislav Gross to resign.

The shift to the political right among Czech voters mirrored similar election outcomes in Germany and Poland last year.

The election commission said 64 per cent of Czech voters participated in the Friday-Saturday election, compared to a 58 per cent turnout in the last polling four years ago.