Four parties reach general consensus on date of early elections

The chair of the opposition Social Democrats Jiří Paroubek said on Tuesday that a preliminary agreement on early elections had been reached between himself and Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek. A morning meeting between the Civic Democratic Party, Social Democrats, Christian Democrats and the Greens, reportedly resulted in a general consensus among the parties on a date of no later than October 20. Mr Paroubek also announced he would offer Mr Topolánek a proposal within the day for altering the parliamentary term of office set out in the constitution. The Czech government is currently “in resignation” after losing a no-confidence vote last week.