Final Word from Monday, May 26, 2014
ANO won the EU elections over the weekend, finishing first in a tight race with TOP 09 and ČSSD. For only the second time in 22 years in a national election, the winner was neither ODS nor ČSSD. The last time this happened was in 2000, when the Four Party Coalition won the Senate elections. That was a short-lived victory, because the Coalition soon fell apart. Andrej Babiš's war chest ensures that it will be different this time. ČSSD will have to come to grips with the realization that Bohuslav Sobotka has overseen the final demise of the ODS-ČSSD power-sharing arrangement that dominated Czech politics for two decades. When ODS's insiders realized that power was slipping through their fingers, they started grabbing anything they could. Voters (and the police) should expect the same thing to happen as the inner circle around Sobotka starts counting the days until the baton is passed to someone else. [Czech Republic Social Democrats Civic Democrats 4K]
Glossary of difficult words
to relinquish - to give up or give away; to hand over;
duopoly - an oligopoly of two suppliers (or political parties);
war chest - a sum of money used for conducting a campaign or running a business;
to come to grips with - to begin to deal with or understand;
to pass the baton - to hand over a particular duty or responsibility.