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“The ODS are paying the price for their godfathers,” headlines Hospodářské noviny in the aftermath of the Czech local and senate elections on 15 and 16 October. The Civic Democratic Party conservatives have lost city hall in Prague, known as a nest of “political mafiosi” for a number of scandals unearthed in recent months. Zdeněk Tůma, ex-governor of the national bank, will probably be the new mayor of the capital. But the big winners at the polls are the social democrats, who have swept up several of the nation’s big cities and could clinch a senate majority in the second ballot on 24 October. “The blue [i.e. conservative] government is now up against orange [i.e. social democrat] regions, maybe an orange senate, too, and orange big city mayors,” recaps the business daily. Four months after its victory in the general elections, the conservative coalition might be unable to implement its reforms, particularly plans to overhaul the pension system.
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