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Elections to the lower house of Parliament will start a day early in some polling stations abroad in order to make up for the time difference, the ctk news agency reported.

The first voters will be able to cast their ballot on Thursday, October 19, in Brazil, Argentina, Cuba, the US and Canada. People will be able to vote at 108 polling stations abroad, mostly at embassies, cultural institutions or military army bases where Czech soldiers are serving in foreign missions.

Polling stations around the Czech Republic will close at 2pm on Saturday and the preliminary results should be announced a few hours later.

The Czech Bishops’ Conference has urged Czech citizens to vote in the upcoming parliamentary elections. According to the bishops, not taking part in the vote is not a correct Christian attitude.

In the appeal, published on Tuesday, the Czech Bishops’ Conference has called on people to reject intolerance and warned them against succumbing to false election promises.

Seven parties would win seats in the Czech parliament according to the latest poll taken by the CVVM agency and released with less than a month to go ahead of elections.

The poll puts ANO in the lead with 30.9 percent, followed by the Social Democrats at 13.1 percent with the Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia in third place with 11.1 percent. The right of centre Civic Democrats are seen with 9.1 percent support and the Christian Democrats with 6.2 percent.

The poll, carried out at the start of September, also tips the Freedom and Direct Democracy Party of Tomio Okamura to enter parliament with 7.3 percent support and the Pirates also with 6.4 percent.

Elections to the lower house take place on 20 and 21 October.

ANO leader Andrej Babiš and the election leader for the Social Democrats (ČSSD), Lubomír Zaorálek, are set for a pre-election head to head television debate on the eve of voting.

The two have accepted to take part in a face to face debate on commercial broadcaster TV Nova on the evening of October 19, according to the station.

At the same time public broadcaster, Czech Television, will be culminating a series of three thematic debates that week with leaders of 10 parties tipped to win the most votes.

Zaorálek said he did not think it was normal for the two debates on private and commercial channels to take place at the same time. He added that he did not want to avoid a debate with ANO’s Babiš on the latter’s support for allowing more foreign workers into the country to fill gaps on the labour market.

Elections to the lower house should take place on October 20 and 21.

A new poll by STEM/MARK suggests that a majority of Czech voters, six out of 10, make their decision on who to vote for in the final week before the election. According to the query, concrete proposals, political programs and individual personalities are all factors which play a role.

The poll suggests that only four percent of voters are influenced by pre-election campaigns. One in nine of those asked admitted to, in the past, having only made up their minds in the voting booth.

Czechs will go to the polls to elect a new government, next month.

The Chamber of Deputies is on Wednesday meeting for the final time in its current line-up. The next time MPs will gather in the lower house of the Czech Parliament will be after elections in the second half of October.

Among the deputies who are not running for re-election are ANO’s Jiří Zlatuška, Martin Komárek, former minister of justice Helena Válková and current minister of finance Ivan Pilný. Another well-known face certain not to return to the 200-seat house after the elections is Jeroným Tejc of the Social Democrats.

The main political parties in the Czech Republic are planning to step up their campaigning in the coming weeks for October’s general elections, the Czech News Agency reported.

The Social Democrats are set to launch the main phase of their campaign in all 14 Czech regions on Tuesday.

The Civic Democrats will make major presentations of their programmes two days later, as will ANO and the Mayors and Independents group.

The Communists will take their campaign to the next level on September 16, while both TOP 09 and the Christian Democrats are also planning large events for the post-holidays period.

Czech nationals abroad who want to vote in October’s parliamentary elections will be able to cast their ballot at 109 polling stations the world over, according to information released by the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

People living abroad can register to vote at their respective embassy and should do so no later than September 10th.

Czechs who will be abroad at the time of the vote will need to get an election pass before leaving the country. The elections are scheduled for Friday, October 20th and Saturday October 21st.

A record number of 31 political parties and movements have registered take part in October’s elections to the lower house of parliament. That total is seven more than the last elections in 2013. Voters in Prague will have the biggest choice with 29 parties and groups competing. In the Karlovy Vary region the choice narrows to just 20 parties and movements.

News the police are seeking to lift the parliamentary immunity of ANO leader Andrej Babiš to investigate the so-called Stork’s Nest affair exploded last week just over two months before parliamentary elections. Polls have consistently suggested Babis’ will win those elections. But any suggestion that the investigation will stand in the way of Babiš becoming prime minister have been dismissed by none other than the president himself.