Final Word from Tuesday, April 15, 2003
Foreign policy usually doesn't play a key role in Czech elections, but this could change if ODS forces an early parliamentary vote next year. ODS has been the most adamant proponent of the U.S.'s Iraq policy, and it would only be logical for it to try to piggyback on America's war success. On the one hand, ODS could boast that it alone supported the winning strategy. On the other, though, its Iraq policy hasn't been shared by most Czechs. If the U.S. develops into an imperial power that uses military might to impose democracy on other countries, ODS could also come to be seen as an imperialist party that uses ČSSD's domestic political weakness to try to impose a U.S.-friendly foreign policy that goes against the will of the people. President Václav Klaus, no fan of Bush's Iraq policy, might be in the position of having to warn against ODS's "hegemonic" tendencies.