Final Word from Tuesday, June 20, 2006
The chatter in Prague is that it doesn't really matter how the post-election talks turn out, because nothing much will get done in the next election period, regardless of who is in charge. None of the parties has any plan that stands out. Euro magazine quoted an unnamed top Czech lawyer as saying that the politicians are eager to strike a deal so that they can get back to the real business at hand, which is stealing. Nobody is making any money when things are at a 100-100 standstill, Euro said. Another prominent lawyer told us he decided to vote in these elections for the first time. He cast his ballot for ODS, not because he thought it was any less corrupt than the others. No, they're all the same in this respect, he said. But once the politicians take their cut, he reasoned, the trickle-down effect in terms of policies that help the CR will be a bit better in the case of an ODS-led government. [Czech Republic elections corruption]