Poll: Social Democrats ahead by 10 percent

CzechNews, mch
17. 9. 2008 12:07
Coalition parties would have only 86 out of 200 seats
Jiří Paroubek, chairman of the Social Democratic Party
Jiří Paroubek, chairman of the Social Democratic Party | Foto: Petr Sznapka

Prague - Neither the Green Party congress nor the so-called Morava blackmail affair influenced the opinions of Czech voters. The Social Democratic Party is still leading the party popularity poll, conducted lately by STEM agency.

The poll surveyed 1,354 Czech adult citizens in late August and early September.

However, given that the GP congress and the Morava affair took place at the beginning of September, it is likely that the poll was not able to fully reflect in the Czech public opinion.

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What is clear is that during the summer months the public opinion did not experience any significant fluctuations. 

"The poll is too fresh now, currently we cannot say what it really means. People never react immediately, but they mostly wait how issues develop," director of STEM Jan Hartl said to Aktuálně.cz.

Social Democrats increasingly popular

At the moment Social Democrats (ČSSD), the main opposition party, is the most popular political party in the country with 32.6 percent of voters´ support.

The biggest party of the governing coalition, the Civic Democratic Party received ten percent less.

"From the long term point of view, the trend of gradual strengthening of the ČSSD position and weakening of ODS is very evident," STEM explained in their press release.

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Christian Democrats (KDU-ČSL), a minor government party, seem to enjoy more popularity now with 6 percent popularity.

The popularity of the Greens, another member of the government coalition, and the Communists (KSČM) remains the same - 12 percent of Czechs would vote for KSČM, 8 percent for the Green Party.

The figures include people who are undecided or who would not vote at all.

No majority for current coalition

If the parliamentary elections were to be held now, the current government coalition would have only 86 seats out of 200. The poll from June showed the same result.

A hypothetical coalition of the Social Democrats and the Communists would enjoy a safe majority of 114 mandates. Were ČSSD form a government with the Greens and the Christian Democrats, they would have 112 seats.

ČSSD would  be also able to form a coalition solely with the Greens, reaching 103 seats altogether.

Regional elections

The results of the poll were published a few weeks before the regional elections. However, the poll surveyed people´s preferences of parliamentary elections, so it is hard to relate its results to the forthcoming regional elections.

"Preferences for the parliament and for the regions are similar. The regional election voters´ preferences will become clear only later," Hartl added.

 

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