Small parties complain about “unfair” competition

Three smaller parties on the Czech political scene have lodged a joint complaint with the Constitutional Court over what they claim was unfair competition in October’s local elections. Public Affairs, a member of the centre-right governing coalition, the Greens and the Independents Association-European Democrats claim that the division of Prague into seven separate voting districts severely damaged their chances in the elections. The division was pushed through by the Civic Democrats when they had a majority on the previous city council. A Prague court ruled last month that the division was not discriminatory.