Czech Republic votes to hold early elections amid scandals

(Vatican Radio) Czech lawmakers have voted to dissolve Parliament's lower house and hold an early election in the Czech Republic, expected in October, following a coalition government's collapse over the country's worst scandals in decades.

Some 140 members of the 200-seat 'Chamber of Deputies' voted to dissolve themselves and approved an early ballot in the troubled nation. Czech President Milos Zeman has proposed calling the early vote for October 25-26.
Tuesday’s vote to dissolve parliament followed the biggest espionage and corruption scandal since Czech independence from what was Czechoslovakia in in 1993. It began when Prime Minister Petr Necas resigned in June after a senior aide with whom he was allegedly having an extra-marital affair was charged with bribery and abuse of power. The aid allegedly had put the prime minister's wife under surveillance.

Two former parliamentarians, an ex-minister and the current and former heads of military intelligence were also detained in the country's largest ever anti-corruption investigation. President Zeman appointed a long-time leftist ally Jiri Rusnok as Necas's successor and sworn in his technocratic "government of experts" in July. However critics accused Zeman of trying to grab powers from parliament and the government failed to win a vote of confidence.

Opinion polls show that if elections are held now, the centre-left Social Democrats (CSSD) will be the biggest party, though they need support from other groups to govern.

Bohuslav Sohuslav, the CSSD leader, already smells victory. "A dissolved parliament would be a success for the social democrats," he claimed ahead of Tuesday's vote.

"I am convinced that people will give us their votes during the upcoming elections,” Sohuslav added.

He is even prepared to talk to the Communists about forming a partnership, despite controversy over that party's autocratic past when the country was still part of Czechoslovakia.

Tuesday's vote to dissolve the lower house was the first ever such decision by Czech lawmakers as regular elections were scheduled for May next year.
Listen to Stefan Bos’ full report: