The Social Democrats came out triumphant in the Czech general election on Friday and Saturday is “Average,” said Slovak Interior Minister Robert Kaliňák on STV’s current affairs programme ‘O 5 minút 12’ (Five Minutes to Twelve) on Sunday. The Czech Social Democratic Party (CSSD) was hoping to receive approximately 33 percent of the vote as late as Saturday, but ultimately only garnered 20.45 percent.
“Expectations were higher. The problems experienced in the Czech Republic recently caused a slump among certain parties. It's evident that people have become tired of the instability and the number of political scandals,” said Kaliňák. “We're rooting for the Czech Republic to be able to form a solid government that can lead the country out of the crisis. I believe that the Social Democrats will succeed in this,” added Kaliňák. Slovak SDKU-DS party caucus leader Lucia Žitňanská added her views to the Czech election result, paying particular attention to the poor result of the leading rightist party ODS which gained a mere 7.72 percent of the vote. “It's evident that the quarrels, disputes and scandals upset people and that they want something different. I hope that ODS will succeed in the process of rebuilding itself and will be able to regain its position on the Czech political scene,” said Žitňanská. “Quarrels in government anger people and they’ll end up voting for new projects, even though they are aware that they don't really know whom they're voting for," added Žitňanská. The Slovak Christian Democrat (KDH) chairman Jan Figeľ on the other hand was much more upbeat, and congratulated head of the Czech Christian Democrats (KDU-CSL) Pavel Bělobrádek via telephone on Saturday night following the election. “No party has managed such a comeback in the Czech Republic since 1990,” said Figeľ, commenting on the Czech Christian Democrats triumphant return to the House whereby they garnered 6.78 percent of the vote.
