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A poll conducted by the Median Agency has put opposition party the Social Democrats almost 9 points ahead of the ruling Civic Democrats if elections were held today. According to the poll, the left-of-centre opposition party would clinch 37 percent of the vote, followed by the Civic Democrats coming in second, with 28.2 – their worst projected finish since the party narrowly won the national election in June 2006. In the Median poll, the Social Democrats would not be the only party to improve: the poll has suggested that the Communists would come in third with 16.6 percent – their best projected finish since the election.

President Václav Klaus has rejected speculation about a possible deal between his party the Civic Democrats and the Christian Democrats, under which the latter’s leader Jiří Čunek would be allowed to return to the cabinet, if his party’s legislators voted for Mr Klaus in presidential elections next month. On Wednesday the head of the Green Party, Martin Bursík, warned against such a deal after Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek of the Civic Democrats indicated he would be prepared to accept the return of Mr Čunek as deputy prime minister and minister for regional development, after an investigation into allegations he had accepted bribes was dropped.

Mr Klaus will face economist Jan Švejnar in a bicameral vote on February 8, with the incumbent regarded as the favourite. If the maximum three rounds of voting are required, they will all take place on the same day, the chairman of the lower house, Miloslav Vlček said on Thursday after talks with Mr Klaus and the chair of the Senate, Přemysl Sobotka.

Police are investigating the deaths of two sons of a woman charged with the killing of another of her boys. Antonie Stašková and her boyfriend Pavel Grepl are being held in custody in Ústí nad Labem after the discovery of the body of the former’s five-year-old son Jan, who had been missing since August. Now an investigation has begun into the deaths of the woman’s other two sons Radek and David, who both died (in 1989 and 1992, respectively) by choking before their first birthdays. Ms Stašková’s mother told Wednesday’s Mladá fronta Dnes she believed her daughter had murdered at least one of the boys.

The Constitutional Court has rejected a complaint made by a group of senators against measures to reform the public finances which came into effect on January 1. The senators, including members of the opposition Social Democrats, said there were problems with the way in which the government-sponsored reform had been discussed. However, the court said it would not hear the complaint because it was already dealing with a proposal to overturn the reform submitted by Social Democrat MPs. Opponents of the government reform bill are strongly opposed to new medical charges, which they say are unconstitutional.