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10/23/2006
To an extent, the local and Senate elections have been viewed as a referendum on the inconclusive parliamentary elections in June which prevented politicians from forming a stable government: Mirek Topolanek's cabinet failed in a vote of confidence after just 30 days. President Vaclav Klaus commented the results by saying they were an indication of the mood in Czech society and that they signalled a political solution to the country's drawn out crisis. He is expected to name a new prime minister designate after the Senate elections conclude.
Meanwhile, acting Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek told journalists on Monday that his party's success in the municipal and Senate elections is not likely to make negotiations on a new government any easier. But, he did suggest they could be a signal for political rivals, the Social Democrats. Mr Topolanek's Civic Democrats are pushing for early parliamentary elections as the only solution to the continuing political deadlock. The Social Democrats led by Jiri Paroubek have favoured forming a grand coalition. Negotiations on a new government are expected to resume soon.
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10/23/2006
Prague's Lord Mayor Pavel Bem is likely to retain his post for a full term, that is, the next four years, after his party, the Civic Democrats (of which is also a deputy chairman) won a resounding victory in Prague in municipal elections at the weekend. In Prague, the Civic Democrats clinched more than 54 percent of the vote, and will hold 42 of 70 seats at city hall. The result means that the Civic Democrats could govern alone as a majority; nevertheless Mr Bem has not ruled out a broader coalition.
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10/23/2006
Czech President Vaclav Klaus - attending ceremonies in Hungary commemorating the 50th anniversary of Hungarian uprising against Soviet rule - has said that he would be glad if the young generation never forgot what occurred in Hungary 50 years ago. "Forgetting", the president said, meant facing "formidable consequences". The president stressed that there was no danger today of the emergence of a communist regime similar to the one that brutally suppressed the Hungarian Uprising in 1956. The ceremonies to mark the anniversary are being attended in Budapest by dozens of foreign delegations. Fighting that occurred during the uprising in 1956, mostly in Budapest, cost 2,600 Hungarians their lives. More than 200 people were executed for their roles in the uprising and 200,000 people fled the country.
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10/23/2006
The Office for the Protection of Competition has approved state subsidies for Hyundai's planned car plant in northern Moravia. The information was released by a representative on Monday. According to Hyundai's contract with the Czech Republic, the company will be eligible to receive subsidies of up to 2.4 billion crowns - the equivalent of around 106 million US dollars. The plant - as well as up to fifteen suppliers - could then receive an additional 2.5 billion crowns towards creating new jobs and introducing re-qualification programmes for employees. According to the office the state subsidies are fully in-line with EU norms, but the subsidies will still need to be approved by the European Commission.
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10/23/2006
Frantisek Frolich and Vladimir Korner have been awarded the annual state prize for translation, and literature, respectively. 62-year-old Frolich, a specialist in English and Scandinavian languages, has translated drama and prose into Czech, including works by Karen Blixen, Hans Christian Andersen, August Strindberg and Harold Pinter. 70-year-old Vladimir Korner, who received the prize for literature, is the author of numerous well-known Czech novels as well as screenplays. He is perhaps most highly regarded for Valley of the Bees, made into a film by the late Czech filmmaker Frantisek Vlacil. The state prizes for literature and translation are worth 250,000 and 125,000 crowns and are presented by the Culture Ministry.
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10/23/2006
The winner of Radio Prague's annual radio competition, Dimitrij Balykin of Russia, has arrived for a week's stay in the Czech capital. Mr Balykin, along with several hundred others took part in the competition, but his entry on the topic of "Czech sounds" was judged the best by the jury. Mr Balykin wrote about the usefulness of audio in Prague's metro especially for the blind and poor-sighted. Mr Balykin himself is blind. His week in the capital will include visiting a number of key tourist sites, as well as sitting down for an interview with Radio Prague - the international service of Czech Radio.
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10/23/2006
Czech tennis player Tomas Berdych has made it into the ATP men's top ten ranking for the first time. His advance to the semi-finals of the Masters at Madrid earned him enough points to reacth tenth spot, only a few points behind American player Rob Blake.
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10/22/2006
The centre-right Civic Democratic Party has scored a resounding victory in both the local and Senate elections held over the weekend in the Czech Republic. In local elections the centre-right Civic Democrats led by Mirek Topolanek won the highest number of votes - 30, 5 percent - and the highest number of municipalities. In Prague the Civic Democrats can rule alone having gained over 53 percent of votes. Overall in the local elections, the Social Democrats came second with 17 percent of votes, the Communists third with 12 percent, followed by the Christian Democrats with 8 percent and the Greens who got 4,5 percent. The independents did exceptionally well gaining a record number of seats in local government. Voter turnout was 46 percent, which is much higher than expected.
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10/22/2006
The centre right Civic Democrats likewise dominated the first round of elections to a third of the Senate. The party has advanced to the second round in 26 of the 27 constituencies contested. If it manages to win 22 Senate seats in the second round of elections the party would have a constitutional majority in the upper chamber. Civic Democrat leader Mirek Topolanek has called on voters to go to the polls in the second round of elections to the Senate. No candidate managed to gain more than 50 percent of the votes and win a seat in the first round of the Senate elections.
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10/22/2006
Meanwhile, the possibility of the Civic Democrats gaining a constitutional majority in the Senate has shocked the centre-left Social Democrats. Party leader Jiri Paroubek has called for a coalition of all parties against the Civic Democrats in the second round of Senate elections in order to prevent what he termed "the onset of blue totalitarianism in the Czech Republic." The Christian Democrats and the Green Party have rejected the idea.
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