Official campaigning begins ahead of European Parliament elections

Official campaigning has begun in the Czech Republic ahead of elections to the European Parliament being held on June 5 and 6. The 33 parties standing have been presenting their manifestos, while public broadcasters Czech Television and Czech Radio will feature the groups’ campaign ads between now and June 2. A poll conducted by STEM for Czech Television suggested that parties’ ability to deal with the financial crisis will be the main criterion for voters in the June polls. Meanwhile, another survey by the same agency indicated 24.2 percent of voters would cast their ballots for the Social Democrats, while 20.9 percent would back their biggest rivals, the Civic Democrats.

Some 27 percent of Czech voters turned out in elections to the European Parliament in 2004, soon after the Czech Republic joined the EU.