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Strange bedfellows join in Senate fight By Ondrej Benda Upset about their failed efforts to thwart the Cabinet's confirmation, and warning that democracy itself is in danger, minor opposition parties plan to join forces for the upcoming Senate elections. The election coalition puts together parties marked by unresolved financial scandals with champions of "clean hands" government. Its main mission is to keep the hands of the two dominant political parties away from the Constitution. Two parliamentary parties -- the Freedom Union (US) and the Christian Democratic Union-Czechoslovak People's Party (KDU-CSL) -- plan to join forces with the Democratic Union (DEU) and the Civic Democratic Alliance (ODA) in an attempt to accumulate more votes in the upcoming Senate elections. The DEU and the ODA both hold Senate seats, but have none in the Chamber of Deputies. Though the exact date that the agreement is to be signed was not available at press time, all sources expect the parties to sign before the end of August. The cooperation agreement will include the distribution of electoral districts among the four parties. Reportedly 13 will go to the US party and the ODA and 14 to the KDU-CSL and the DEU. According to the chairman of the Freedom Union deputies' club, Vladimir Mlynar, this broad coalition aims at garnering at least 15 chairs in the upcoming elections. This would prevent the Civic Democratic Party (ODS) and Czech Social Democrats (CSSD) from being able to change the Constitution so that smaller parties cannot survive. "We hope to create a counterweight to the constitutional majority that the CSSD and ODS now enjoy, and [we hope] not to be bypassed by any possible change of the Constitution," Mlynar said. The CSSD and ODS both reject speculation that they would willfully change the Constitution for their own advantage. "This is a contrived argument they use," said ODS deputy Petr Necas, who called the potential alliance a coalition of failures. However, both parties have stated that some changes to the electoral system need to be made. Most of the cooperation agreement's points are still subject to negotiations, but it is clear now that the parties will enable independent personalities to run. Among others, hot candidates include former Health Minister Zuzana Roithova and former Interior Minister Jan Ruml, who is also US party chairman. Another possibility is the nomination of former Environment Minister Jiri Skalicky. DEU, which has been on the political fringes for years, and the US party, an ODS splinter party formed at the beginning of 1998, have essentially clean records. But they will soon team up with parties that have much more checkered pasts. Skalicky is viewed by many as having been a bad environment minister as well as having been the chairman who presided over the ODA's downfall. During his brief stint as ODA chairman at the end of 1997, the ODA left the Cabinet because it did not want to be associated with the financial scandals connected to the ODS, which was then the strongest political party. When media attention later focused on the millions of crowns received by the ODA from suspicious sources, Skalicky staked his political reputation on clearing up the affair. He fell woefully short and only managed to cast more light on manipulations made to help disguise the sources of ODA money. Most of those financial sources still remain unknown. "Skalicky did not bring the party to where it is now. Rather, he attempted to save the party at time when it was far too late," Mlynar said. According to both U.S. deputy chairman Vladimir Mlynar and KDU-CSL deputy chairman Cyril Svoboda, Skalicky is an experienced minister and deputy suited for the post of a senator, and he stands a good chance in the elections. According to ODA Deputy Chairman Borek Valvoda, the party has dealt with its past. "We are aware that some of the sponsor gifts we received are unacceptable. We consider this a debt. Once we are able to, we will use this money for humanitarian purposes," he said. According to Freedom Union press secretary Patrik Nacher, the ODA has paid for its mistakes and, therefore, the past is no longer a question. One of the major financial problems with the ODA involved a company called Trade Management Company of the Virgin Islands. Skalicky admitted that the company had been created to cover up the real party sponsors and he named three sponsors, including the Philip Morris tobacco company as the names behind Trade Management. However, Philip Morris denied making any donation to the ODA. The KDU-CSL is also facing problems with accusations of corruption in the Defense Ministry, which the party managed for the past seven years. Nacher also said that those problems are an internal matter for the KDU-CSL, but he expects the party to develop the initiative to deal with the situation before the elections. The clock is ticking. According to Svoboda of the KDU-CSL the electoral campaign has already started, but he is optimistic: "We hope to win all 27 chairs, otherwise we would not be doing this." On the other hand, Necas of the ODS is skeptical. "Only the voters will decide, but past has showed that there is no real opposition without the ODS," he said.
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