Prague - If the next parliamentary elections were to be held tomorrow, the Green Party wouldn't make the cut.
For the first time since June 2006, when the last vote to the Chamber of Deputies took place, the support for the junior member of the ruling coalition dropped below the five per cent threshold, according to the results of a November survey by the Median pollster.
Only 4,4 per cent of those asked said they would vote for the Greens. Experts see it as a possible reflection of the recent inner-party struggle to find a successor to sacked Minister of Education Dana Kuchtová.
Compared to the last poll made by Median, the Green Party lost two per cent.
Social Democrats still on top
Infobox
- Soc Dem - 35,3 %
- Civ Dem - 31,4 %
- Communists - 14,2 %
- Chris Dem - 7,6 %
- Greens - 4,4 %
Source: Median
The main opposition Social Democratic Party (ČSSD) confirmed its lead over the ruling Civic Democratic Party (ODS), first recorded in September (see the precise numbers in the Infobox), but the gap between the two rivals narrowed to less than four per cent from its erstwhile 7+ per cent span.
Communists (KSČM) remain the distant third and Christian Democratic Party (KDU-ČSL), a member of the ruling coalition along with ODS and the Greens, is the last among the elecatable parties with 7,6 per cent support.
Greens threaten to leave the cabinet
The news of the dwindling support for the Greens comes as the smallest coalition party threatened to leave the cabinet if KDU-ČSL leader Jiří Čunek returns to the cabinet.
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"Two, and perhaps all four of our ministers, are ready to quit, if it comes to that," said Kateřina Jacques, the Green Party faction leader in the lower house of the parliament, in an interview for Aktuálně.cz.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs Karel Schwarzenberg and the new Minister of Education Ondřej Liška, sworn in only this week, made it clear they refuse to welcome Čunek back.
Čunek resigned as a Minister of the Local Development and a Deputy Prime Minister last month, when police re-opened investigation into his alleged corruption affair.
The case has been stopped since and Čunek, backed by most of his party colleagues, made it clear he is ready to rejoin the cabinet.
Čunek: Let them go
As for the Green ministers' stance, he says he is ready to call their bluff.
"If anybody wants to leave, let him do so. Everybody has a freedom to decide for himself, there is nothing we can do abou it," he said, adding: "They believe somebody will always blink first. But that's not how we (=KDU-ČSL) operate."
Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek (ODS) is also weighing his options. At first, he seemed open to the idea of Čunek's return, now he says that Christian Democrats should perhaps nominate somebody else.
Čunek was accused of accepting a 500,000-crown bribe from a real estate company while serving as the mayor of Vsetín, the city in East Moravia, in 2002.
Recently, he also became subject of public controversy, when the information surfaced that he was claiming welfare benefits from the state, while depositing millions of crowns in his accounts in the 1990s.
