Final Word from Thursday, August 31, 2006
ODS presents itself as being anti-Communist but isn't averse to turning a blind eye in moments of need. Without the Communists - or else without its other main adversary, Jiří Paroubek - ODS won't have the votes to meet its stated goal of early elections. It's ironic that ODS needs the Communists for preventing Paroubek from forming a government reliant on those very same Communists. If the Reds choose Topolánek over Paroubek, it will only be because they think early elections would help them more than an alliance with Paroubek. If the Communists do indeed choose early elections, Topolánek will in a sense have achieved the very opposite of what he wanted: Many of the votes ČSSD loses in early elections will merely shift to the far left, and the importance of the Communists will grow. This is another reason why an ODS-ČSSD agreement remains the only real option.[Czech Republic Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia KŠCM parliamentary elections]