TOP 09 electing new party leadership

The centre-right TOP 09 party is holding a two-day conference at which delegates are expected to elect a new leadership. The party is also analysing its poor showing in October’s general elections at which TOP 09 won 5.3 percent of the vote, which gave them just seven seats in the lower house.

The party’s outgoing leader Miroslav Kalousek has accepted responsibility for the election debacle and is not running for re-election. MEP Jiří Pospíšil, who recently joined the party, is seen as a hot candidate for the top post.

In his address to delegates, Mr. Kalousek said the party needed to address the problem of what he called the party’s poor regional network. The election of a new leadership is to take place on Sunday.