Spidla: no coalition with Civic Democrats

With less than a week to go until the general elections, the leader of the ruling Social Democrats has ruled out the possibility of a coalition with the right-of-centre Civic Democrats. Vladimir Spidla, appearing on a TV discussion programme with the Civic Democrat leader Vaclav Klaus, said there were large differences between the two parties on major policy issues such as pension reform, taxation, and EU membership. Mr Spidla said he preferred a coalition with the right-of-centre opposition Coalition grouping, but raised the prospect of another minority government should such a coalition prove impossible. The Social Democrats are now slightly ahead of the Civic Democrats in the opinion polls, but neither party is expected to win an outright majority.