MEP Kateřina Konečná elected Communist Party leader

MEP Kateřina Konečná was elected leader of the Communist Party on Saturday in a change of guard following the party’s crushing defeat in October’s general elections.

She was elected by an overwhelming majority, getting 160 out of 175 votes. Her main rivals for the post Josef Skála, who represents the party’s conservative faction, and Hana Aulická Jírovcová got 70 and 63 votes respectively.

Party leader Vojtěch Filip announced his resignation from the top post following the party’s election debacle when it received only 3.6 percent of the vote, meaning that, for the first time in the country’s post-communist history, it will not be represented in the Chamber of Deputies.