Gross rues poor finish by Social Democrats

The Social Democrats' party chairman Prime Minister Stanislav Gross has rued his party's poor performance in the both the regional and Senate elections; on Saturday Mr Gross told journalists that he was "not happy" with the results. But, Mr Gross suggested that low voter turn-out had helped both the opposition right-of-centre Civic Democrats and the Communist Party; he did say at the moment it appeared he had little choice but to congratulate the Civic Democratic Party. The regional and Senate elections were widely seen as the prime minister's first big political test since taking over leadership of his party, following the Social Democrats' dismal showing in European parliamentary elections in June.