Czech Republic Goes to the Polls
June 15, 2002
Voters will go to the polls on Friday and Saturday to decide who will lead the Czech Republic as it heads towards EU membership.
The contest pits the conservative Civic Democrats, led by former Prime Minister Vaclav Klaus, against the leftist Social Democrats and their candidate Vladimir Spidla.
The Czech Republic hopes to join the EU in 2004, and the two parties have widely differing views on key issues such as reforming pensions and spending policies.
Close contest makes coalition a possibility
Both parties are running neck-and-neck in the opinion polls, and a majority win appears unlikely with many commentators suggesting a coalition may be the final result.
With 20 percent of the voters undecided yesterday on the eve of the poll - the election to the lower house of parliament, the Chamber of Deputies, could go either way.
The campaign has been described as ‘sleepy’ and ‘toothless,’ but it could be significant. The distribution of votes among the parties will largely determine the successor to current Czech President Vaclav Havel, whose term expires early next year.
Public opinion ahead of Friday’s first round is proving difficult to measure, with two recent polls showing the incumbent Social Democrats leading, and another poll showing the Civic Democratic Party in the lead.
EU membership issues divide main rivals
In a tightly-fought campaign, the emphasis has often dwelt on how the two key political rivals view the EU.
Vladimir Spidla has strongly embraced membership of the EU while Vaclav Klaus appears less enthusiastic, adopting flamboyant and sometimes inflammatory rhetoric in his criticism of the 15-member body. The Civic Democrat said certain conditions would have to be in place before Czech Republic joined the EU.
He says he wants to retain sovereignty and Czech rights over some issues, and veto rights, as well as a guarantee that the World War II Benes Decree will not be altered.
These laws, named after President Edvard Benes, were put in place after the war to provide a legal basis for the expulsion of ethnic Germans from the Sudetanland region in what was part of what was then Czechoslovakia.
The issue has been a source of tension between Germany and the Czech Republic and one that easily whips up emotions in the country.
European stance on Benes Decree unsettles voters
Bruce Jacobs, a Czech journalist, said that Klaus is cleverly playing on the concerns of Czech citizens nervous the EU will repeal the decree.
"Czechs, who took over the property of Austrians and Germans who were expelled, are afraid the homes and possessions could be taken back," he said. "They say this was property of the war and its history and ownership cannot be changed."
The Civic Democrat leader has said he could not recommend the Czech people voting in favour of membership of the EU if the decree is annulled. He has also come out criticizing the EU's Byzantine bureacracy.
The Czech Republic, he said, "will dissolve in (the EU) like a sugar cube in a cup of coffee."
Uncertainty may result in shared power
Klaus and Spidla are front-runners for the post of prime minister. But if Spidla fails to attain a working majority with his preferred coalition partners, the Christian Democrats and the liberal Freedom Union, he may end up sharing power with Vaclav Klaus.
If the leadership struggle has generated uncertainty, the polls have agreed on one thing.
It is likely that the two-party coalition of the centrist People's Party and the centre-right Freedom Union will place third, and the Communist KSCM party fourth.
Other parties, including the increasingly popular Greens and the extremist Republicans, however, are unlikely to surpass the 5 percent hurdle required to enter parliament.
What makes this weekend's elections particularly important is that the distribution of votes among the political parties will largely determine whom parliament will elect as president for a five-year term early next year to succeed Vaclav Havel.
Czech parliamentary elections are not popularity contests, although the main parties have all tried hard to make them appear as such by personalising the campaign through appearances by their top leaders.
As is traditional in Czech politics, voters' preferences are expressed in party lists that ensure some form of proportional representation, which in turn may well be disregarded when it comes to striking a post-election deal.
Many registered voters remained undecided just 48 hours before polling begins, and may in the end either not vote at all or else cast a protest vote for the Greens or the Republicans.