Social Democrat leader warns party to focus on pre-election campaign

The leader of the Social Democrats, Jiří Paroubek, has warned party members to focus more on the pre-election campaign than on helping the incoming interim government. A new technocratic cabinet led by incoming Prime Minister Jan Fischer will take office on May 9 with the aim of completing the Czech EU presidency as well as leading the country to early elections. Speaking to the party executive committee, Mr Paroubek reminded members that the interim government was not the Social Democrats’ own. He also said he anticipated a tough campaign from political rivals the Civic Democrats, saying a repeat of what he called the “criminal” Kubice report “was possible”. The police document, warning of growing links between the Social Democratic Party (then head of the government) and organised crime in 2006, was leaked just days before parliamentary elections, won by the Civic Democrats.