Czech Elections 2010

It’s been a long time coming. Following the constitutional court’s ruling against an early election last fall, the Czech Republic should have its first elected government since the naming of Fisher’s interim government a year ago, when he took over from Topolánek’s center-right coalition, which was ousted by a vote of no confidence in March 2009. Exciting year, eh?

Given the Czech proportional electoral system, it is unlikely any party will secure the absolute majority of 101 seats in the lower house to govern outright. A coalition of three or more of the parties listed below is most likely. The parties are listed in order, depending on how many seats they are expected to win in the lower house, the Chamber of Deputies, from most seats to fewest.

ČSSD is running under the slogan Change and Hope (Změna a Naděje). The changes the party intends for the country include the cancellation of the current flat tax system and a return to a progressive tax system. The rate they consider ‘acceptable’ would be the one from 2005 – 2007.

Fiscal restraint and reducing public debt is the centerpiece of the party’s policy. To achieve this they propose, if necessary, adopting a constitutional law to ensure budgetary responsibility. Less dramatically, they have also suggested reductions to ministerial spending and pension reform, which would include voluntary contributions.

Regarding health regulation fees, the party aims to maintain them, as well as to introduce measures for private contributions for ‘above standard’ care. However, it does not support a complete user-pay health system for all people. They continue to support a flat-tax with further simplification of the payment process.

So what are the Communists campaigning for in this post-communist era? In a word, security; though in a social rather than military sense.  The party proposes regulating the price of energy and water, introducing non-interest loans for housing for newlyweds, a minimum monthly wage of 14,000 CZK and gradually increasing the minimum pension to 10,000 CZK per month. They support the reduction of VAT to 5% on basic goods and no VAT on food and medicine. On the flip side, they support a tax increase on legal entities and dividends.

TOP 09 presents itself as the other center-right party, though their policies pursue even stricter austerity measures than ODS. These measures include reductions to wages paid from the state budget; reducing by 50% state contributions to political parties; reducing all state benefits by 10% and not providing pensioners with a cost of living increase in 2011. Along with this ‘belt-tightening’ the party supports contributions to health services and pension funds.

The party officially supports the EU and is in favor of EU expansion into the Balkan states. However, it does not support setting a fixed date for EU adoption.

The party´s election program has been released as a ten-point plan (Desatero Věci veřejných). This program includes competition for above standard health care; 20% reduction in public tenders; 10% reduction in the number of civil servants; pension reform and stricter conditions for unemployment benefits. Most intriguing is that the party supports constitutional reform to allow for direct elections of the president, regional governors and mayors.

The party’s program is also center-right with an emphasis on family and family values. Part of their program includes tax reductions for married couples, and further reductions for couples with children. Given the party’s Christian roots, they also have strong policies regarding gambling, including strengthening municipalities to refuse gambling machines and annual licensing fees of 1 million CZK per machine. They also want to introduce greater Internet regulation.

One thing is for certain. Regardless of the election result, the Czech political scene appears that it will be fraught with divisions for some time to come.