Left-wing Social Democrats win Czech parliamentary vote but may not be able to form new govt

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Czech vote leaves unclear who will form next govt

PRAGUE — It was not clear Sunday who will form the Czech Republic’s next government, after the left-wing Social Democrats narrowly won the country’s parliamentary election but center-right parties captured more votes overall.

Results reported by the country’s election agency indicated that the Social Democrats will not be able to govern alone and may not even be able to successfully put together a new coalition. The party’s leader, former Prime Minister Jiri Paroubek, resigned after the poor showing.

The Statistics Office said the Social Democrats won 22.1 percent of the vote Saturday, or 56 seats in Parliament’s 200-seat lower house. Their major rival, the conservative Civic Democratic Party, captured 20.2 percent, or 53 seats.

With all the votes counted, a new conservative party, TOP 09, got 16.7 percent (41 seats), followed by the Communists with 11.3 percent (26 seats) and another new party, the centrist Public Affairs, with 10.9 percent (24 seats).

Turnout was 62.6 percent.

Pre-election polls had predicted a much wider margin of victory — about 30 percent — for the Social Democrats

“We expected a better result,” Paroubek said. “This country is on the way toward a right-wing coalition.”

Still, President Vaclav Klaus indicated he could ask Social Democrats to try to form a new government, and the Communists are expected to give them their tacit support. Other parties, however, have ruled out cooperating, criticizing Paroubek for irresponsible populist promises including an extra payment to retirees.

The Social Democrats want to join the euro currency in 2015 or 2016, increase corporate taxes from 19 to 21 percent and adopt a new personal tax of 38 percent for those in the highest income bracket.

If the Social Democrats fail to form a government, Petr Necas, the Civic Democrats’ interim chairman, could attempt a center-right coalition with TOP 09 and the Public Affairs.

His party opposes tax increases and has no target date for the euro adoption. It also wants to eliminate the budget deficit.

“Responsibility won over populism,” Necas said.

The TOP 09 party supports strict fiscal discipline, with its Public Affairs chairman Radek John saying that without reforms “we’ll end up like Greece.”

The Czech Republic has been run by a caretaker government since a three-party coalition led by the Civic Democrats lost a no-confidence vote in March 2009, days before President Barack Obama’s visit to Prague and in the middle of the Czech EU presidency.

The caretaker Cabinet had no mandate to carry on fundamental reforms and analysts say the country needs to overhaul its pension system. The Czech economy contracted 4.2 percent last year, and the European Union predicts Czech growth of only 1.6 percent this year.

The Christian Democrats and the Greens — who formed the previous government with the Civic Democrats — did poorly Saturday, receiving less than the 5 percent needed to gain seats in parliament. The leaders of both parties resigned after the vote.

Associated Press writer George Jahn contributed to this report.