Archive: Domestic affairs | Political parties Political parties
Coalition talks collapse (again) as Topolanek turns back on Social Democrats
Lengthy talks on forming a broad coalition government collapsed on
Wednesday evening in an abrupt twist in the six-month political saga since
inconclusive parliamentary elections in June. The right-of-centre Civic
Democrats, who are running the country in what is essentially a
provisional government, announced they were breaking off talks with the
leftist Social Democrats.
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Christian Democrats pin their hopes on Jiri Cunek
The Christian Democratic Party has a new leader. He is the controversial
mayor of Vsetin, Senator Jiri Cunek - a man whom some see as a racist and
others as a pragmatic, down to earth politician who could bring the
Christian Democrats out of a rut. But who is Jiri Cunek and can he really
turn around the party's fortunes?
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Topolanek unveils "magnificent seven" reform proposal
Now stop me if you've heard this one before, but the right-of-centre Civic
Democrats have just unveiled their latest proposal for a new pro-reform
government. The Civic Democrats are holding talks with the other political
parties before taking the proposal to President Vaclav Klaus next week. So
does it stand a greater chance of success than the party's first attempt
to form a government, which ended in failure last month?
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Comments by PM's aide complicate negotiations
After what initially appeared to be a breakthrough in government
negotiations last week, politicians in the Czech Republic are back at
square one. On Sunday the Social Democrats led by Jiri Paroubek rejected a
proposal by Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek to join a four-party coalition
that would have run the country until 2008. The party rejected the deal on
the grounds that a year-an-a-half or so in office was simply too short.
Trust, or lack of it, may also have played a part, after it came to light
that a close aide to the prime minister had made disparaging comments
about the Social Democrats and their chances in being in the next
government.
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Is democracy under threat in central Europe?
The year 2006 will go down as a year marked by political instability in
central Europe's post-Communist states. The Czech Republic, Hungary,
Poland, and Slovakia have all held general elections and the results have
left many political scientists shaking their heads in disbelief.
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Senator accused of racism could play role in government formation
Just three weeks ago Jiri Cunek was fighting off accusations of racism,
when - as mayor of Vsetin - he moved Romany rent-defaulters out of the
town. But now Mr Cunek, who is also a senator, could become an important
player in talks to form a new government - if he is elected chairman of
the Christian Democrats. More
Civic Democrat leader gets green light for coalition talks
Civic Democratic party leader Mirek Topolanek was re-elected for another
two-year term at the party's national conference over the weekend and
received a strong mandate to form a broad coalition government with a
limited term in office. Political analysts say Mr. Topolanek's personal
victory may resolve the country's drawn out political crisis.
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Government talks evoke restrained optimism
It appears the Civic Democrats and the Social Democrats are close to
agreeing a deal that would see them divide up power in a new government.
The former are no longer insisting on early elections, the latter say they
would now tolerate the presence of smaller parties in the cabinet. But had
the two big players really, all along, expected to end up governing
together? And were the last five months of negotiations and break-downs
all for show? That's a question that Daniela Lazarova put to analyst Petr
Just.
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PM drops idea of early elections in favour of trying to form stable government
The second round of talks on forming a new government since parliamentary
elections ended in stalemate half a year ago, saw unexpected developments
on Monday when Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek announced his party was
dropping a demand for early elections next year. Until now, the
right-of-centre Civic Democrats, who won the election in June but where
unable to secure a governing majority, had pushed for early elections as
the only viable option. Why the reversal in position? More
Klaus to appoint Topolanek PM for second time, but why?
President Vaclav Klaus announced on Monday that he was no longer willing to
wait for the country's political parties to agree on forming a temporary
government to lead the country to early elections. He said he would
appoint Mirek Topolanek, leader of the Civic Democrats, as prime minister
designate for a second time, even though Mr Topolanek's first attempt
ended in failure. So is this Mr Klaus washing his hands of the whole
business, and what does it mean for the country?
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