News

Early election results from the Czech Republic's two day parliamentary elections show a clear victory for the country's left wing parties. The ruling Social Democrats have won the elections with over 30 percent of the vote. This positions party leader Vladimir Spidla for the top government post. Shortly after the news broke Mr. Spidla shared his feelings with Radio Prague:

" It is a clear victory for the Social Democrats. The Social Democratic Party has established itself as a stable political force which is a permanent part of the Czech political scene and has a potential for the future. We are a strong party in our own right and people trust us."

The Social Democrats attracted voters by promising to build a dense web of social security and benefits. The party's main slogan was "We won't leave you in the cold".

The Social Democrats' main rival , the centre-right Civic Democratic party led by the former prime minister Vaclav Klaus, received over 24% of the votes and has openly admitted defeat. Mr. Klaus said he would consider his share of responsibility for the defeat and inform the public of his plans for the future after consulting with the party leadership.

In a surprise development the Communist party has placed third with more than 18 percent of the vote outstripping the Coalition, an alliance of two centre-right parties. According to early results the Coalition has received more than 14 percent of the votes. No other party has crossed the 5% threshold needed to win parliamentary seats.

For the first time ever, Czechs living abroad were also able to take part in the elections. Voting took place at Czech embassies and consulates, but the number of people who registered to vote abroad was much lower than expected. Of the estimated 70,000 eligible voters only around 2,000 registered. It is not yet clear how many of them actually cast their ballot.

The Czech Republic's eight million voters have begun casting their ballots in elections to the Czech lower house. The polls opened at two o'clock on Friday afternoon, and will close at ten on Friday night, before opening again on Saturday at eight am and closing at two in the afternoon, when vote-counting will begin. No party is expected to win a majority and either the governing Social Democrats or the Civic Democratic Party are expected to get the most seats in the 200-seat lower house.

Among the first to cast their ballots were President Vaclav Havel and the outgoing prime minister, Milos Zeman, as well as the leaders of several of the biggest parties.

The first reactor at the Temelin nuclear power station in south Bohemia went back into operation on Thursday night despite statements by officials at the plant earlier on Thursday that it would be shut down for a week to deal with a suspected leak. The power station is once again supplying electricity to the national grid. Temelin has suffered from repeated faults since the launch of the plant began in October 2000, and critics say it is unsafe.