President Klaus to start talks on new government on Thursday

President Klaus on Thursday will begin talks with the leaders of the Social Democratic Party (the biggest party in parliament), the Christian Democratic Party (the junior ruling coalition partner), and the senior opposition right-of-centre Civic Democrats. After a round of talks, Mr Klaus will most likely name acting Social Democrat leader Stanislav Gross prime minister-designate. A day before the talks, President Vaclav Klaus reiterated he would not appoint a government backed by the Communists. In an interview for the Czech daily Mlada Fronta Dnes he also said he believed it would not be possible to form a government from the three ruling coalition parties due to weak support in parliament. President Klaus is the former leader of the opposition Civic Democrats, who won most seats to the European Parliament and are pushing for early national parliamentary elections.