David recommends Gross should step down

A member of the ruling Social Democratic Party's executive committee, the former health minister Ivan David, recommended on Saturday at the committee's meeting that the chairman of the Social Democrats, Stanislav Gross, step down from his post. Mr Gross, however, has flatly refused. Others, including the chairman of the party's deputies club, Michal Kraus, as well the head of the Chamber of Deputies, Lubomir Zaoralek, backed Mr Gross, indicating that choosing a new leader so shortly after the party's congress was not the order of the day.

Mr Gross stayed on as the Social Democrats' chairman despite being forced out of the prime minister's office earlier this year, following a personal financial scandal. No Social Democrat leaders suggested on Saturday that the party should hold an extraordinary congress in the aim of having someone else fill the post.