The head of the Civic Democratic Party, Mirek Topolánek, has resisted
intense pressure from his own party to step down, in the
wake of controversial remarks made during an interview for a Czech gay
magazine. In the interview, he referred disparagingly to both the Church
and voters of the Social Democrats and singled out the transport minister
as gay and the prime minister as Jewish. His comments caused an uproar
that
culminated in almost 12 hours of deliberations by top party leaders on
Tuesday, most of whom wanted him to go. But Mr Topolánek stuck