Politics

The main opposition Social Democrats (ČSSD) have regained a majority in Senate with the election of Jiří Dienstbier Jr. to the seat representing Kladno left vacant after the death in January of his father, the country's first post-communist foreign minister. With Dienstbier's victory, the ČSSD now have 41 seats in the 81-seat upper house of Parliament. Although the Senate has the power to veto legislation, the center-right coalition has a comfortable majority of 118 seat in the 200-seat Chamber of Deputies.

Seemingly unimpressed by Defense Minister Alexandr Vondra's (Civic Democrats, ODS) explanation Thursday of his role in the ProMoPro affair, TOP 09 parliamentary group chairman Petr Gazdík and the party's deputy chairman, Finance Minister Miroslav Kalousek, have called for Vondra to resign voluntarily or be forced to step down. Gazdík said this was imperative to restore trust in the center-right coalition government, of which TOP 09 and Public Affairs (VV) are junior coalition partners.

President Václav Klaus spoke out against the allied forces' air campaign over Libya, calling it a "declaration of war", Hospodářské noviny reported him as saying before the European Commission summit yesterday.

The 36th conference of the left-wing Czech Social Democrats is set to take place March 18–19. One of the most important items on the agenda will be the election of a new party leader.