Social Democrats call for decent-campaign deal

Social Democrat leader Jiří Paroubek has called on the rival Civic Democrats to sign a joint memorandum in which the parties would pledge to conduct a decent campaign ahead of the October early general elections. Mr. Paroubek made the call in reaction to the stone-throwing incident in which his main rival Mirek Topolánek was lightly injured. He said both parties should urge their supporters to refrain from any show of violence. Jiří Paroubek himself was the target of a highly coordinated egg-throwing camapaign ahead of the European elections.