TOP 09 withdraws from elections in Liberec

The leadership of the TOP 09 party has announced it will withdraw from local elections in the city of Liberec and plans to cancel its organisation there. The party’s deputy chairman Miroslav Kalousek apologised to voters on Friday, telling reporters that the decision was the result of inappropriate behaviour on the part of a party electoral representative, who struck three of his rivals off the ballot, including the top candidate. The party revoked the representative’s power of proxy on Monday, but not before the changes to the ballot were legally binding. Mr Kalousek said he did not want to offer voters a “rotten apple” and would instead support partner parties in the city. TOP 09 was one of the favourites in the local election in Liberec, where they defeated the incumbent Civic Democratic Party in parliamentary elections earlier this year.