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The deadline has passed for political parties and movements to register for lower house elections at the end of May. More have come forward than last time round four years ago with many smaller parties given a real chance of getting a seat in parliament.

A new poll released by Factum Invenio suggests that six political parties would make it into the Chamber of Deputies if the election were held today. The poll put the Social Democrats top in terms of voter preference, with 27.4 percent, the right-of-second Civic Democrats second, with 23 percent, and the Communist Party third, with 14.4 percent. The three additional parties that would pass the necessary five percent threshold are TOP 09, with 11.8, the newcomer Public Affairs at 7.8, and the Christian Democrats at 6.2 percent. The survey suggests that the Greens would come up just short (4.7 percent).

According to Factum Invenio’s research, the current results would not translate into a majority government for either the political Right or Left. The survey also estimated that almost 64 percent of Czechs could go to the polls. The actual election will take place at the end of May.

The Social Democrats launched their campaign for May’s general elections with a bang over the weekend. At a conference in Teplice on Saturday, they unveiled an ambitions programme, promising to put the Czech Republic among the top ten countries of the EU.

The Czech foreign minister, Jan Kohout, is not going to run in the general elections scheduled for May. Mr Kohout, who was expected to top the Social Democrat ballot in the Plzeň region, was rejected by the party’s regional organization, against the wishes of the party leadership. The news comes a day after the Social Democrats announced that Interior Minister Martin Pecina will head their ballot in Prague. The move provoked an outcry from the right-wing Civic Democrats, who said this breached an earlier agreement between the two parties about the support for the caretaker government. Prime Minister Jan Fischer reacted by saying that he would not prevent any member of his government to run in the elections; Mr Fischer said however he would make sure his ministers would keep campaigning out of their agenda.

TOP 09 leader Karel Schwarzenberg and his team have just launched an unusual campaign aimed at getting young Czechs to vote. It revolves around the charismatic politician himself: voters can connect with him via online chats and even win the chance to spend an evening at the pub with Mr. Schwarzenberg. But what role does the leader’s popularity play in the overall success of this new party?

Social Democrat leader Jiří Paroubek has suggested that companies with a turnover of over 5 billion crowns a year should contribute one percent of their taxable profits to the development of Czech sports and culture. The question of how sports and culture should be financed has divided Czech political parties, although there is general agreement that the present system of funding is inadequate and needs to be amended. The Sazka lottery company, which was established with the aim of funding sports associations from lottery profits, has proved an inadequate source. Some politicians now propose setting up a special sports fund to be financed from the state budget.

Miloš Zeman who was elected chairman of the newly established Citizens’ Rights Party over the weekend, lost no time in kicking off the party’s election campaign in Prague. The former prime minister, who came out of retirement to give dissatisfied left-wing voters an alternative in May’s general elections, told supporters he knew a way out of the crisis. The party’s policy programme includes cutting costs in state administration, progressive taxation and a tax on luxury goods. Mr. Zeman was out in fighting spirit on Sunday saying his party was being described as a party of dinosaurs and has-beens, but he would show them yet.

Miloš Zeman, who led the Social Democrats to power, served as prime minister between 1998 and 2002, retiring a year later after he lost a bid for the presidency to the current head of state Vaclav Klaus. He was increasingly critical of the Social Democrats in later years and officially left the party in 2007. Some of his former allies have left the Social Democrats to join his Citizens’ Rights Party.

The far-right Workers Social Justice Party has said it will make a request for international observers to be present at the upcoming general elections. The party, boosted by members of the former Workers’ party, banned for spreading racism and orchestrating violence in a landmark court ruling in February, is planning to run candidates and says it fears the elections may not be fair and that votes for the far-right will be secretly discarded. The Interior Ministry which was successful in its bid to get the far-right Workers Party outlawed, says it is watching the Workers Social Justice Party carefully and will not hesitate to take similar action if it breaches the law.

Respected Czech-American economist Jan Švejnar, who ran unsuccessfully against Václav Klaus for the post of president in 2008, has dismissed media reports suggesting he could run as a regional election leader for the Social Democratic Party in the upcoming national election. His aide Daniel Herman released the information on Saturday in reaction to an article in the Czech daily Právo, which cited two unnamed sources within the Social Democratic Party, who suggested Mr Švejnar might get on board. The Social Democrats have also dismissed the article as speculation. Mr Švejnar was supported by both the Social Democratic Party and the Greens in his 2008 presidential bid, but is not a member of either political party.

Czechs voting from abroad in the upcoming election will be able to choose from among candidates in the region of South Bohemia, the Interior Ministry has announced. South Bohemia was chosen in a draw held by the State Electoral Commission, out of a possible 14 regions. Expatriates and Czechs abroad for the short-term have so far been able to vote in two previous national elections, in 2002 and in 2006. The first time voters were allotted South Moravia, the second, South Bohemia. Roughly 3,800 out of some 70,000 potential voters abroad took part in the vote in 2002.