PM considering challenging validity of election

At a special news conference on Saturday evening, the leader of the Social Democrats, Prime Minister Jiri Paroubek, refused to admit defeat and said his party was considering challenging the validity of the election in court because of the nature of the campaign.

"Under the election law, it is possible to challenge the legal validity of the election if there is reason to believe the law was broken in a way which could influence the results of the election. We will look into the possibility of lodging a complaint with the Supreme Administrative Court. That would need to be done within ten days of the announcement of the results."

Mr Paroubek said that the Civic Democrats had led a dishonest smear campaign against his Social Democrats. He also called into question the Civic Democrats' ability to put together a majority government.