Czech press survey - November 24

At the beginning, no one expected the new party's poll ratings to surge so much. As a result, the time has come for the ODS to make some counter-move, he adds.

TOP 09 deliberately focuses on those who despise the domestic form of political marketing, embodied by the ODS. Moreover, it is able to present a more trustworthy face than the ODS.

The ODS is evidently unable to check TOP 09's rise, Zverina writes.

It is really a mystery how Mirek Topolanek, leader of the Civic Democratic Party (ODS), who has headed it for seven years, has proved unable to decide the battle with venal party members to his benefit in a resolute and enduring way, Daniel Kaiser writes in Lidove noviny.

Before congresses, Topolanek is able to create convincingly the impression that he is threatened and that the mafia, allied with his party opponents, is knocking the door, but the public should not be misled.

In fact, Topolanek enjoys a steady, roughly two-third support in the party. This is a majority to which his predecessor, now President Vaclav Klaus, was used in the critical moments of his career.

As Topolanek is scoring similar results, he can hardly be shrugged off as a lame duck who barely survives, Kaiser writes.

All in all, the situation of the ODS is worse than some fifteen years ago. However, so is the whole Czech political scene as well as public life (a bigger dependence on politics of police, state attorney's offices and obviously media councils, too).

The Czech Republic is undergoing an economic downturn, but regional authorities dominated by the Social Democrats (CSSD) are spending more than the previous ones did during the economic boom, Martin Zverina writes in Lidove noviny.

Regional governors want to buy votes for the Social Democrats, but the public will only pay after the elections, Zverina writes, citing the example of Central Bohemian regional governor David Rath (CSSD).

Rath is the only regional governor in the country who wants the state to provide him with another 8-10 million crowns to establish vaccination centres against the current swine flu epidemic, Zverina writes,

This is truly bizarre as the one who squanders most the money, is suddenly cash-strapped.

Rath ought to have thought of the region's financial situation when he made the populist gesture and vowed to pay the health care fees for the patients from the region's coffers, Zverina writes.

Autor: ČTK
www.ctk.cz