News

Second round of senate elections has begun

Voting has begun in the second round of Senate elections. Polling stations are open from 2pm until 10 pm on Friday and from 8 to 2 pm on Saturday. Seats are being contested to a third of the senate, with voting taking place in 27 districts around the country, The Social Democrats are contesting seats in 23 constituencies, the Communists in 12, the Civic Democrats will be contesting 19 seats and the remaining 9 will be contested by smaller parties and independent candidates. No matter how the vote turns out, it is clear that the left-wing parties will defend their majority in the upper house.

Social Democrats aim to delay pension reform

The opposition Social Democrats are set to propose a two-year postponement of the country’s pension reform. Chairman of the Social Democrat deputies, Jeroným Tejc, said that the introduction of the controversial second pillar of the pension reform should be decided on after the next parliamentary elections. Although the lower house has already passed the pension reform package, it is yet to vote on overriding the president’ veto of an essential bill, which would allow for the reforms to come into effect as of next year. The Social Democrats have already submitted a similar proposal in the past, but were not successful.

President Klaus says the losers of the elections are to blame for communists’ victories.

At a meeting of the Confederation of political prisoners on Thursday President Václav Klaus said that those responsible for the growing popularity of the Communist Party should accept the blame. Referring inexplicitly to the parties currently in the ruling coalition, President Klaus said that those who took a beating in last weekend’s regional elections have to learn from their defeat and take corrective measures. The president had commented on the election results previously on Sunday, simply saying that they were “clear, unequivocal and comprehensible“ and that people should draw their own conclusions from them.

Two more men die of methanol poisoning.

Another man that was admitted for methanol poisoning in early October to a hospital in Brno has died on Friday afternoon. The man is the 30th victim of contaminated bootleg liquor since the start of the methanol crisis in early September. The cause of death will be confirmed by an autopsy. A 60-year-old man also died on Friday in a hospital in Opava.

Likérka Drak chief Čaniga will not go to jail

A district court in Zlín ruled on Friday that the head of the liquor producer Likérka Drak, Pavel Čaniga, will not be remanded in custody while under investigation. Mr Čaniga has been charged with endangering public health by distributing harmful products. He was arrested on Wednesday after 7,600 bottles of Tuzemák rum were found in the warehouse of Drak’s distributor, containing a lethal 50% methanol content. Authorities banned the sale of Tuzemák produced by Likérka Drak on Thursday. The head of the company’s distributor, who is suspected in the same case as Mr Čaniga, is still at large.

Meanwhile analysis revealed on Friday, that bottles of another Likérka Drak liquor, Original vodka, that were discovered in the Verdana warehouse have 50% methanol content as well.

Court disqualifies part of the evidence in the Bárta case

The Czech Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that the former transport minister and Public Affairs party MP Vít Bárta should no longer be investigated for offering bribes in the form of loans to fellow deputies. Mr Bárta had discussed these loans during meetings of the Public Affairs deputies club, where he had immunity as an MP, making the evidence from these meetings inadmissible. The court, though, upheld a suspended 18-month sentence that Mr Bárta received in April for offering bribes to former MPs Jaroslav Škarka and Kristýna Kočí. The two plaintiffs in the highly-publicized case received bribes worth 170,000 and 500,000 crowns, respectively, outside of the deputy meetings.

'Independents' demand a recount in Olomouc regional elections

The political movement Independents filed a complaint with the Regional Court in Ostrava over irregularities during last week’s regional elections in the Olomouc region. Independents have asked for a recount of the vote on the basis of allegations by their voters that some votes were not recorded. Independents’ representative from the Olomouc region Jana Zwyrtek said that during the count, the name of her movement ‘Nezávislí’ may have been confused with a group of independent candidates that ran under a similar name ‘Nezávislá volba‘. The Independents political movement received 4.95% of the votes in the region, just below the 5-percent cutoff.

PM Nečas: a veto of the EU banking plans is not out of the question

Prime Minister Petr Nečas said that the Czech Republic may still veto the proposal to form a single European banking system. The prime minister made the announced in Brussels after a summit, where representatives of EU member states decided to create the banking supervisory system by the first of January. The Czech leader said that it is still not clear how the supervisory system will actual work, and whether it can potentially lead to the destabilization of the Czech banking system, which is why he may still try to block the proposal.

Karel Schwarzenberg wants to follow in Havel’s footsteps

The Czech Foreign Minister and TOP 09 chairman Karel Schwarzenberg has launched his presidential campaign at a press conference on Friday. The 74-year-old candidate expressed his wish to uphold the legacy of the late former president Václav Havel and defend freedom and openness. Expressed concern over the course on which the Czech Republic is heading and that he would like to see an improvement. Mr Schwarzenberg expressed his belief that the president should not be that much involved in politics, but said that as president he would like to use his power to effectively fight corruption.

Pojar’s funeral ceremony takes place in Prague

The funeral of the famous Czech animator Břetislav Pojar took place on Friday in the Strašnice krematorium in Prague. The author and director of numerous animated films passed away a week ago at the age of 89. Mr Pojar began his career in the 1940’s and used puppet animation and stop motion animation styles in his films. He had emigrated to Canada in the 1960s, where his work for the Canadian Film Board won numerous awards.

Weather

The coming days will be mostly sunny with daytime temperaters going up to 17-19° Celsius.