Final Word from Tuesday, March 1, 2005
Except for perhaps President Václav Klaus and a third of voters, it seems that no one wants early elections. ODS says the political crisis calls for early elections, but it isn't doing much to bring them about. It could strike a deal with ČSSD that also includes changing the electoral system, or it could steal a few MPs from near-dead US-DEU, but instead it's letting ČSSD continue on its long slide. ODS Chair Mirek Topolánek had hinted that the Český Telecom privatization would be a source of income for coalition politicians, but he even dropped this line of attack. He told Czech TV on Sun. that he has seen no signs that the privatization isn't transparent. Political analyst Jiří Pehe told Respekt that ODS might not want early elections because it could then be made responsible for the EU constitution. If Czechs vote No, ODS might prefer that ČSSD get the blame. [Czech Republic Czech Television corruption]