In related news, the Communist party has made the most expensive election
promises, according to a study by the IDEA institute and the daily Lidové
noviny. Two weeks ahead of an early general election, the Communists
promise, among other things, to lower VAT rates, to introduce minimum
pensions, and excluded medicines from VAT, which would costs at least 91.5
billion crowns. The Christian Democrats, meanwhile, promise to take steps
that would cost 48 billion while the pledges of the Social Democrats to
voters would cost the state budget 43.5 billion, the study says. The
right-of-centre Civic Democrats would need less than 7.2 billion to fulfill
their campaign promises.