Czech conservatives dominate local, senate elections

Oct 22, 2006, 10:28 GMT

Prague - The Czech Republic's rising conservatives dominated a weekend election for local and senate offices, giving party leaders fresh hope for controlling the national government.

The conservative Civic Democrats (ODS) won more than 30 per cent of the votes cast for nearly 63,000 local positions including mayors and town council members, the State Elections Commission reported Sunday.

The liberal Social Democrats (CSSD) finished a distant second with 17 per cent of the votes cast, while the far-left communists KSCM came in third with 12 per cent.

In addition, ODS candidates advanced to a second round in the election for one-third of the senate - parliament's upper chamber - in 26 of the 27 seats up for grabs. But only 11 CSSD candidates advanced to the next round, scheduled for next weekend.

ODS also won a comfortable 60 per cent of votes in the local election in Prague, the country's largest city whose local politics play a key role at the national level.

Prague voters guaranteed another term for ODS Mayor Pavel Bem and quashed CSSD efforts to seat the city's first woman mayor, losing candidate Petra Buskova.

The latest results could boost ODS efforts to seat a national government despite a political impasse with CSSD and smaller parties that's now in its fifth month.

The power struggle began when ODS beat CSSD in the main parliamentary elections last June, ending eight years of liberal rule. But the conservatives failed to win a majority in parliament's lower chamber, allowing CSSD to thwart ODS efforts to form a government.

Acting Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek of ODS was forced to resign after narrowly losing a confidence vote in parliament early this month.

However President Vaclav Klaus, the ODS honourary chairman, has allowed Topolanek to remain in office pending the outcome of next week's second-round senate election.

In coming weeks, Topolanek could try to form another conservative government that wins parliament's backing, or a nonpolitical 'caretaker' government that would rule until early elections next spring.

Meanwhile, CSSD has proposed forming a 'grand coalition' government with ODS. But this weekend's vote diminished chances that the liberals would get their way.