Final Word from Thursday, July 13, 2006
Most of the media are biased against Jiří Paroubek and reject his claim that the elections were unfair and that he deserves a chance to form a government. It's likely true that if the Kubice scandal had appeared before the elections in a standard banana republic, the outrage from independent observers would have been greater. Paroubek's own pre- and post-election behavior somehow made ODS's dirty trick more legitimate. If we accept that Paroubek is willing to do anything to remain in power and to correct the "injustice" done to him, his talk of a grand coalition appears to be an effort to scare the Greens into switching camps. ČSSD's misfortune is that no matter how legitimate Paroubek's efforts might be, they're rendered unsellable to the public by his position as a politician whose image has been damaged beyond repair. (There's that anti-Paroubek bias again.)[Czech Republic Jan Kubice organized crime Green Party news media]