President accuses Constitutional Court of ‘deepening Czech political crisis’, while party heads split in their response

Czech President Václav Klaus slammed the Constitutional Court’s ruling on Thursday evening, saying that judges had knowingly and deliberately ‘deepened the political crisis’ in the Czech Republic. Mr Klaus said that it was time for the Constitutional Court’s mandate to be redefined. Meanwhile, heads of the main Czech political parties were split in their reaction to the ruling, which cancels early elections originally planned for October 9-10. Head of the Social Democrats Jiří Paroubek said that while he would take Thursday’s verdict into account, he believed that the court had ruled ‘unconstitutionally’. Civic Democrat leader Mirek Topolánek meanwhile said that he ‘fully respected’ the court’s decision, and that his party would now strive for a long-term solution to the problem through changing the Constitution. The ruling was greeted by the heads of the Green Party and the Christian Democrats, Ondřej Liška and Cyril Svoboda respectively.

Author: Rosie Johnston