Lame-duck Topolanek

Political observers were shaking their heads in disbelief when ČSSD announced last week that it would call a no-confidence vote for tomorrow. Why would Jiří Paroubek risk such a premature vote, was the general feeling, given his party's low chance of success? Armed with Kč 10m worth of public-opinion surveying ordered by the spinsters at PSB, though, Paroubek knew more than mere mortals. He felt certain that ČSSD would romp in the elections, and the results bore this out. Even if he doesn't win tomorrow's no-confidence vote, he might at least convince enough coalition MPs to abstain or skip the vote so that it becomes clear that Mirek Topolánek doesn't enjoy the support of Parliament. This would put significant pressure on Topolánek to call his own confidence vote. If he refused, which is likely, he'd go into the ODS congress in early Dec. as a lame- duck party chairman and prime minister. [Czech Republic spin doctors Penn, Schoen & Berland]