Press Review

On the third day after the general elections, all newspapers continue to analyse the results and examine all the possible scenarios.

Lidove noviny features a large photo of the leader of the Civic Democrats, Vaclav Klaus, speaking to journalists at a news conference his party held on Monday. Those who had expected Mr Klaus to resign after the election defeat must have been disappointed. The entire leadership remain in their seats for at least three weeks - until a special team has finished an analysis of the causes of the defeat.

Lidove noviny looks back on the pre-election campaign of the Civic Democrats, which proved to be a failure. Mr Klaus denies allegations that the campaign was based primarily on his personality. However, the final stage of the campaign in particular was centred around the party's chairman. Only a day before the elections posters were distributed with a portrait of Vaclav Klaus and the words "Stop socialism, the nation votes for Klaus." The name of the party did not even feature on the posters, Lidove noviny reports.

"Klaus refuses to bear responsibility for defeat", writes Mlada fronta Dnes. Despite last year's promises to resign if his party does not do well in the elections, Mr Klaus sees no reason to step down from his party post. On the other hand, the leader of the Freedom Union, Hana Marvanova, told Mlada fronta Dnes that she and the whole leadership of the party will offer their resignation after her party did so poorly in the election. Ms Marvanova sees the future of the Freedom Union in attracting people from other right-of- centre parties.

"Spidla to start negotiating with Christian Democrats and Freedom Union", says Pravo, emphasising the fact that the two parties of the Coalition grouping will from now on have to be considered as two separate entities. The Christian Democrats gained 22 seats in the lower house while the Freedom Union will occupy only 9, which puts them in an unfavourable position and allows them little space for negotiation.

The leaders of the Christian Democrats and the Freedom Union say they will maintain unity within the grouping and will meet Mr Spidla, the prime minister-to-be, together. A Social Democrat official told the daily Pravo that the party does not intend to induce tensions within the Coalition grouping by favouring only one of its two members.

On a similar note, Mlada fronta Dnes writes that the Social Democrats do not want Freedom Union leader Hana Marvanova in their new government. The daily writes that the Coalition want seats in the new government, while the Social Democrats are offering only four. They don't want Ms Marvanova in the government, and would much rather find a senior post for her in the lower house of parliament, the paper says.

The economic daily Hospodarske noviny features an interview with Social Democrat Marie Souckova, one of the potential candidates for a seat in the new cabinet. Ms Souckova says the Social Democrats do not intend to increase the number of ministries although they would like to introduce a new ministry of information technology. Ms Souckova says her party will respect the results of the elections and the number of seats allocated to individual parties in the future government should correspond with the percentage of votes each of them received in the elections.