Poll dancing

Miloš Čermák of Reflex magazine brought a bit of reason today to the frantic discussion about Jiří Paroubek's anger at a party member who messed up an attempt to influence the voting in a TV poll. Paroubek-bashers have criticized ČSSD for organizing the sending of SMS votes in support of Paroubek (who lost his TV debate), but Čermák said in HN that it's not clear what is so scandalous about this. Petr Bendl of ODS, speaking on F1 radio, also defended Paroubek in a sense. Of course the political parties ask their members to support their representatives in the TV debates, he said. The goal of all the parties, he suggested, is to rally as many supporters as possible to send in their vote. What would be scandalous, we say, is if the parties instead used computerized systems to manipulate the various electronic polls. And we hear that Paroubek has been looking into this possibility. [Czech Republic public opinion survey telephon television]