Party leaders drum up support for second round of Senate elections

Leaders of the Civic and Social Democrats have called on their supporters to come out and vote in the second round of the Senate elections. The head of the Civic Democrats, Prime Minister Petr Nečas, said that in order for the reforms to continue, the Senate should remain in the hands of the right-of-centre coalition; for his part, Social Democrat party leader Bohuslav Sobotka said the second round is an opportunity to gain a left-wing majority in the Senate which would force the government to negotiate its planned reforms with the opposition. Should the Social Democrats win 12 or more seats in the upper house, they could delay the implementation of the government’s austerity measures. However, the coalition has enough votes in the lower house to overturn any veto coming from the Senate.