Final Word from Tuesday, October 10, 2006
Mirek Topolánek has been warning for months that there's a plan by regional ODS politicians to push him aside and form a grand coalition with ČSSD. It's surely no coincidence that the last week has seen the rise of some of these self-styled white knights. Evžen Tošenovský was mentioned as a possible successor to Topolánek as ODS chair; Pavel Bém took the lead in pushing for Topolánek to be replaced as PM by a non-partisan figure; Petr Bendl noted that the regional governors were the ones who advised Václav Klaus to form a technocratic government. To voters, a constructive end to the bickering sounds too good to be true. And so it probably is. Ex-Minister Jaroslav Bureš told Právo that things are actually headed toward a grand coalition, not a technocratic government. In a less-civilized country, what ODS's regional politicians are trying to do might be called a palace coup. [Czech Republic prime minister premier nonpartisan]