Prime Minister Jiri Paroubek elected leader of Social Democrats

Prime Minister Jiri Paroubek has been elected chairman of the Social Democratic Party at a special congress held over the weekend. 479 of 521 party members, or ninety-two percent of the party delegates voted for Paroubek to replace Bohuslav Sobotka, who was the Social Democratic Party's provisional chairman after the resignation of former Prime Minister Stanislav Gross last year. Jiri Paroubek admitted that his election is in large part a public declaration of the Social Democratic Party's unity before the upcoming elections. Prime Minister Jiri Paroubek declared that his immediate goal now is to win the June elections and prevent a possible coalition of Civic Democrats, Christian Democrats and the Green Party.

Social Democratic Party delegates also voted for Zdenek Skromach to be the new vice-chairman of the party. Eighty-nine percent of delegates voted for Skromach, who ran with the support of Prime Minister Paroubek and was the only candidate for the position of vice-chairman.