Czechs cast their ballots in general elections

Czechs are going to the polls to cast their ballot in elections to the lower house of Parliament. At the end of a long and sometimes aggressive campaign, the field is still wide open, with neither of the two main parties, the Social and Civic Democrats, expected to win a clear majority of the vote.

Polling stations opened at 2 p.m. on Friday and will close at 2 p.m. on Saturday at almost 15,000 locations across the country. Czech voters will be able to choose from 25 parties contesting 200 seats in the lower house. Czechs living abroad can cast their ballot at most Czech embassies and Consulates General around the world.

Photo: CTK

The country’s largest left-of-center party, the Social Democrats, has been favored to win the elections throughout the campaign, but their main rival, the right-of-center Civic Democrats, has been catching up, following a last minute reshuffle in the party leadership. However, it seems unlikely that either party would gain enough seats to govern alone, and so the field for who might form the future government is still wide open.

Two newcomers on the scene – the conservative TOP 09 and Public Affairs – are both expected to do well and are seen as potential coalition partners, while two established parties, the Christian Democrats and the Greens, may only just scrape past the five percent threshold needed to win seats in Parliament.

Possible government constellations include a left-of-center coalition of the Social Democrats teaming up with Public Affairs, backed by the Communists or a right-of-center coalition with the Civic Democrats joined by TOP 09 and Public Affairs.

Social Democrats’ leader Jiří Paroubek, Petr Nečas (right), photo: CTK

The Civic Democrats’ leader Petr Nečas has ruled out a grand coalition, adding he would even prefer a minority government of the rival Social Democrats with communist backing to that scenario. Despite that, analysts still think a grand coalition is a possibility, though it would most likely mean the two parties’ leaders taking a back seat.