Prague - Shortly after he was elected president in late-January, Milos Zeman suggested early elections as a way to solve the ongoing political crisis.
Finance Minister Miroslav Kalousek reacted by pointing out that it is the Chamber of Deputies, not the president, that has the power to call early elections.
Kalousek, who is deputy chairman of the junior government TOP 09 party, is now considered a chief proponent of the snap election scenario. TOP 09 chairman Karel Schwarzenberg lost in the run-off election to Zeman, but his (and the party's) popularity got a big boost during the campaign, and Kalousek apparently wants to take advantage of this.
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Earlier this week, an opinion poll conducted by the CVVM polling agency suggested that for the first time in history, TOP 09 is enjoying more popular support than the ruling Civic Democratic Party (ODS) of Prime Minister Petr Necas.
In case of an early election, for example, in May this year, TOP 09 may very well replace the ODS as the Czech Republic's main right-wing party.
In order to dissolve the Chamber of Deputies and call early elections, Kalousek needs at least 120 deputies to vote for his proposal. TOP 09 and two left-wing opposition parties, the Czech Social Democratic Party (CSSD) and the Communist Party (KSCM), have 121 deputies combined. CSSD deputy chairman Zdenek Skromach said that his party is ready to talk about early elections.
The CSSD enjoys high popular support and it is possible that a snap election would allow it to form a government. However, the party hasn't received any proposal on early elections from TOP 09 yet.
President elect Milos Zeman, who will be sworn in office in March, would probably prefer a caretaker government over a snap election. This would allow him to reward his advisers and allies from the presidential election campaign with senior posts in that government. However, Zeman would need support from the CSSD to dismiss the government, and the largest opposition party reportedly prefers the snap election scenario.
