The head of the Social Democrats, Bohuslav Sobotka, has set for his party
the goal of winning up to one-third of votes in early elections expected
this autumn. Mr. Sobotka told news website iDnes that he hoped his party
in
Prague would clinch 25 percent. The party chairman will himself run in the
South Moravia region, where he has won as party leader twice before. Polls
have repeatedly shown the Social Democrats would win easily if elections
were held today, while the right-of-centre Civic Democrats could face a
major drop in numbers. The Civic Democrats’ speaker of the lower house,
Miroslava Němcová, meanwhile, has suggested the elections should be
delayed by a month, to prevent key legislation from being swept off the
table.