Civic Democrats losing members by the hundreds

The Civic Democratic Party which was forced into the opposition after its crushing defeat in October’s early elections is losing members by the hundreds, the internet news site Novinky.cz reports. Following the corruption scandal that led to the fall of the Civic Democrat-led government and the party's poor showing in the elections the party lost half its members going from 41 thousand to 21 thousand registered members. Its supporters have also turned their backs on the party which only go 7.7 percent of the vote in the last general elections. A complete overhaul of the party’s leadership and its new chairman Petr Fiala have so far failed to turn around the party’s ailing fortunes.