JUNE 22, 1998

P R E S S  R E V I E W

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Leading Czech newspapers lament that a political stalemate may again be inevitable after the country's general election. But they are unanimous in praising the voters' exclusion of the ultra- right Republicans from parliament.

Most papers believe that although Milos Zeman's Social Democrats topped the poll, the real winner could be the right-wing parties and especially former prime minister Vaclav Klaus.

"Zeman won, but the right didn't lose," reads a headline in a special edition of LIDOVE NOVINY. The paper writes that the historic triumph of the Social Democrats -- their first win for 78 years -- has a bitter aftertaste for Zeman, whom Klaus's comeback blocks from controlling the country.

LIDOVE NOVINY said prospects of forming a government were unclear because, although a centre-right coalition would have 102 seats in the 200-seat lower house of parliament, it would require a change in Klaus's uncompromising behaviour.

"The conditions for the creation of such a majority cabinet are not just words about a `a willingness to cooperate' but also the suppression of personal and ideological intolerance. In this direction it seems Vaclav Klaus has a big problem," the daily's commentator Michal Musil wrote.

The top daily MLADA FRONTA DNES said that, with right-wing parties not willing to accept a Social Democrat-led government, the centre right must cooperate again, "but that situation isn't at all realistic" because of the animosity between Klaus and Christian Democrat leader Josef Lux.

The leading tabloid, BLESK, went straight to the point: "A stalemate again."

LIDOVE NOVINY said a broad coalition which would cut Klaus out -- grouping the Social Democrats, Christian Democrats and Freedom Union, a rebel offshoot which broke away from Klaus's party -- was not likely either.

The paper noted that the Freedom Union has been strictly and continually ruling out cooperation with Zeman's Social Democrats on a government level.

MLADA FRONTA DNES editor-in-chief Petr Sabata said that, while several on the left and right could claim victory and forming a government may be a problem, all sides could celebrate that the Republicans, led by Miroslav Sladek, fell short of the five percent needed to win parliamentary seats.

The Republicans, a fixture in post-Communist Czech parliaments since 1989, have campaigned on nationalist and anti-minority rhetoric and have often brought debate to a halt with filibusters filled with racist vitriol.

"Certainly," Sabata wrote, "the main event of this election -- and a great reason to celebrate on the left and right -- is the failure of Sladek's Republicans."

And BLESK commentator Frantisek Vonderka noted that Voters showed their maturity by not letting Sladek's Republicans into parliament. 

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