Related articles

NewsPresident Klaus orders Fiala's release from custody

Talking PointJiri Paroubek and Mirek Topolanek: who are the front-runners in the race for Czech Prime Minister?

Polls have them running neck-and-neck days before the elections. Jiri Paroubek, the current Prime Minister and leader of the Social Democratic Party, and Mirek Topolanek, the leader of the opposition Civic Democratic Party. One of these two men is most likely to be the Czech Republic's next Prime Minister, but who are they and where did they come from? In this week's Talking Point we take a look at these two men and the images they project.  More

Current AffairsPrime minister & opposition party leader face off in important debate

The Czech Republic is now days away from a general election that will decide on the country's next government: in all likelihood led either by the Social Democratic Party, that has ruled for the last eight years, or their rivals - the right-of-centre Civic Democrats. The race is far from decided and even two final opinion polls have predicted opposite results: one giving the Social Democrats a slight edge, the other predicting a decisive Civic Democrat victory. Clearly, final televised debates between the parties' two leaders - Prime Minister Jiri Paroubek and opposition leader Mirek Topolanek - could still have an impact. More

NewsPresident's office responds to criticism over EU statements

NewsCzech Academy of Sciences distances itself from Vaclav Klaus' critics

NewsPM to sue Topolanek for slander

Current AffairsCzech politicians come to blows two weeks ahead of parliamentary elections

It was a resounding slap that reverberated for hours after it had been dealt. At a meeting of Czech dentists on Saturday Miroslav Macek, a former deputy prime minister in the 1990s and long time adviser to President Vaclav Klaus, walked over to Health Minister David Rath and without warning hit him on the back of the head, starting a fistfight. Macek claims he was settling a personal score with the minister because of insulting remarks he'd made about his wife, but the nature of the attack - at the start of a conference with TV cameras rolling - suggested otherwise. The incident came less than a fortnight before parliamentary elections in the midst of what commentators have described as the most aggressive election campaign in the country's modern history.  More

NewsKlaus: EU moved from phase of liberalisation to one of centralisation

NewsPresident Klaus receives honorary doctorate

NewsPoll: Klaus regarded best Czech prime minister