CZECH REPUBLIC: Czech political parties end their general election campaigns with concerts and family events

Record ID: 346906

  • Title: CZECH REPUBLIC: Czech political parties end their general election campaigns with concerts and family events
  • Date: 3rd June 2006
  • Summary: PREMIER AND SOCIAL DEMOCRATIC LEADER JIRI PAROUBEK ARRIVING, GREETING SUPPORTERS
  • Embargoed: 18th June 2006 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Czech Republic
  • Country: Czech Republic
  • Topics: Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA440QEGXU5BRVUJ7743PYOY8DM
  • Story Text: The Czech Republic's main parties held open air concerts across Prague on Thursday (June 1) , marking the end of an election campaign notable for its verbal and physical attacks.
    National elections on Friday (June 2) are widely expected to be a close contest between ruling leftists who took the nation into the EU and right-wingers vowing to stop corruption and slash taxes.
    The outcome could determine the country's stance towards any deeper EU integration and when it will adopt the euro currency. The Czech Republic has enjoyed an economic boom under a centre-left coalition led by Prime Minister Jiri Paroubek's Social Democrats, but a string of sleaze scandals may damage the government's standing with voters after eight years in power.
    Final opinion polls put the rightist opposition Civic Democrats slightly ahead of Paroubek's party, with only three others, the centrist Christian Democrats, the Communists and the Green Party, seen passing the 5 percent threshold to gain entrance to the lower house of parliament.
    But after a campaign marked by verbal and even physical attacks, no party stands a chance of winning an outright parliamentary majority in the two-day elections and several different alliances are possible in the chase for office.
    The likely outcomes are either a centre-right coalition led by the Civic Democrats or a minority Social Democrat cabinet backed by the Communists, who have been shunned since their Soviet-backed totalitarian rule ended in 1989.
    One division between the main parties is that the Social Democrats say they will take the country into the euro zone by 2010, while the Civic Democrats are cool on euro adoption.
    Financial markets will also be watching to see whether the government that emerges from the polls is strong and committed to reforms that will be sustainable to cut budget gaps.
    The Social Democrats and Civic Democrats clashed in the final days of the campaign over accusations by a senior police official that Paroubek and other top officials were hindering investigations into organised crime to shield colleagues.
    Paroubek, who took over the Social Democrats last year after they were battered by financial scandals and led them back into the race, has rejected the accusations.
    The Social Democrats are promising to boost social spending on pensions and families, to be financed by fast growth and dividends from state firms.
    The Civic Democrats pledge deep reforms to achieve long-term stability in health care, pensions and the budget.
    They promise to cut taxes on all income, introducing a flat tax of 15 percent. Allied with eurosceptic President Vaclav Klaus, the Civic Democrats oppose any deeper EU integration.
    Polling stations will be open from 2 p.m. (1200 GMT) until 10 p.m. on Friday and from 8 a.m. until 2 p.m. on Saturday. Preliminary results are expected on Saturday evening.
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