Opposition parties fail to get vote postponed

An attempt by the opposition Social Democrats and the Communists to get the vote on the government-proposed reforms postponed until mid-September has failed. Left wing deputies said they wanted more time to study the reform package because the ruling coalition had been making amendments to the proposed reforms up until the last minute. Their joint proposal was turned down by the three ruling parties together with the two unaffiliated deputies Milos Melcak and Michal Pohanka. A vote on the reforms is thus likely to take place sometime next week.