Czechs in urgent need of new elections

The three parties forming the Czech centre-left government annulled their coalition agreement on Sunday owing to their inability to achieve a parliamentary majority. A bribery scandal had previously caused a major rift within the smallest coalition party. Head of government Petr Nečas is seeking new backing in parliament in an attempt to avoid new elections. But this is the wrong approach, the left-leaning daily Pravda warns: "Reforms are without doubt necessary. But those in the Czech Republic have a major flaw - the country is getting deeper and deeper into debt. And the fight against corruption is not producing results - there's been one scandal after another, leaving the government with little legitimacy. To top it all it no longer has a secure parliamentary majority after the quarrelling within the smallest coalition partner. A government in such bad shape is ready for the chop. Because it is incapable of self-reflection, more than 100,000 demonstrators forced it to look in the mirror [at a trade union demonstration on Saturday]. This was not just a union affair. The fact that two-thirds of Czechs want new elections is proof that the government has lost the confidence of the people."

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