Foreign press on defeat of right wing

Prague, Oct 13 (CTK) - Foreign press agencies Saturday assessed the results of the elections to regional assemblies and the first round of the polls to one-third of the Senate, the upper house of parliament, in the Czech Republic as a clear defeat of the government parties and a glorious victory of the left wing.

"The ruling Civic Democratic Party (ODS) suffered a drubbing in regional and upper house elections as voters punished the government for spending cuts and sleaze scandals," Reuters agency reported.

The agency considers the Communists (KSCM) the main election winner, along with several small local parties that gained more seats in regional assemblies than four years ago.

The dpa German news agency reports on a clear victory of the CSSD and the KSCM and points to a low election turnout of about one-third of voters.

The agency also reminds of the fact that the ODS scored success only in the Plzensky region, west Bohemia, where the election candidates were led by the popular former justice minister Jiri Pospisil who was recently sacked from the coalition government.

The APA Austrian news agency reports that the elections were mainly a debacle and an overwhelming defeat of the government coalition of the ODS, TOP 09 and LIDEM.

Not only the ODS but also its coalition partner, TOP 09, finished long behind the winners, APA says.

AP agency writes about a major victory of the left-wing opposition "capitalizing on public anger over the government's austerity measures."

It also points to the so far best results of the Communists in regional elections.