Paroubek allies elected to party leadership

The election of a new party leadership has been completed at the Social Democrats' annual conference in Brno. As expected, its composition is exactly that which was desired by party chairman Jiri Paroubek. Zdenek Skromach, Petr Vicha and Jana Vanhova were re-elected as party vice-chairman while Bohuslav Sobotka had earlier been elected as first vice-chairman and deputy leader of the party. The only new member in the party leadership is former industry and trade minister Milan Urban, who defeated Petr Hulinsky, the chairman of the party's Prague branch and a well-known critic of Jiri Paroubek. Mr Paroubek himself was re-elected as party leader on Friday evening.