Opposition party redoubles criticism of government

The country's largest opposition party, the Social Democrats, have redoubled criticism of the centre-right government, saying the cabinet was "incapable of communicating with the opposition and even its own MPs". The deputy head of the lower house, Lubomir Zaoralek, pointed to the case of Christian Democrat MP Ludvik Hovorka, who was the only ruling party MP to vote against the government's fiscal reforms earlier this week. Social Democrat leader Jiri Paroubek, meanwhile, stated at a press conference on Friday his view that the coalition government - made up of the Civic Democrats, the Christian Democrats and the Greens - would suffer increasing "strain" in the coming months, both over the state budget and in the choice of candidates in the upcoming presidential election.