Czech ODS would win elections far ahead of Social Democrats-poll

The Social Democrats who would finish second would gain 8.6 percent of votes less, the poll showed.

According to the election model created on the basis of the poll, the ODS would be able to form a majority government, along with the TOP 09 party and the Christian Democrats (KDU-CSL). Such cabinet would be able to rely on the support of 113 deputies in the 200-member lower house.

The Social Democrats would not be able to form a majority cabinet with these two parties and they would not be able to form such a cabinet even in the coalition with the Communists (KSCM), according to the poll.

The election model has not ruled out the ODS-CSSD grand coalition as one of the possibilities.

According to the poll, the KSCM would end third in the elections gaining 12.6 percent of votes. TOP 09 would gain 9.8 percent of votes and the KDU-CSL would also enter the parliament with 5.7 percent of votes.

The Greens who were a member of the centre-right government that fell in March would not cross the 5-percent parliamentary threshold, according to the poll.

However, supporters of newly-established right-wing TOP 09 party did not rule out in their answers that they might vote for the ODS or for the KDU-CSL in the elections.

"A weak voter base is natural. The party should act much more cautiously than the long-established parties if it wants to preserve its preferences. On the other hand, it has a huge possibility to attract discontented voters, especially former supporters of the ODS," political observer Pavel Saradin, from Olomouc University, said.

The election model created on the basis of the poll result shows that the ODS would have 77 seats in the Chamber of Deputies, the CSSD 58 seats, the KSCM 29, TOP 09 23 and the KDU-CSL 13 seats.

Apart from the electoral standing of the political parties the poll also focused on voters' approval rating of individual politicians. According to the poll, former Czech foreign minister Karel Schwarzenberg who is now the TOP 09 number one is the most trustworthy Czech politician at present.

He is followed by Green Party chairman Ondrej Liska.

KSCM leader Vojtech Filip is the least trustworthy politician. He is preceded by CSSD head Jiri Paroubek, according to the poll.

The poll that was conducted on 800 respondents from all Czech regions showed that 64.9 percent of Czechs would take part in the elections if they were held now.

Early parliamentary elections will take part in the Czech Republic in October.

The recent poll conducted by the Factum Invenio agency also predicted the victory of the ODS. However, according to it, the Civic Democrats would only receive 2.6 percent of votes more than the second strongest Social Democrats.

Author: ČTK
www.ctk.cz