Prague, June 28 (CTK) – The ANO movement remains the clear favourite of the autumn general election and the second most popular Czech party are the Communists (KSCM) who overtook the Social Democrats (CSSD), according to the latest poll that the Median agency released today.
The position of ANO improved after the political crisis within which its leader Andrej Babis had to leave the government in May. The movement would win 27.5 percent of the vote if elections were held now.
Median confirmed the latest figures of the STEM and CVVM polling institutes, which showed that the KSCM became more popular than the Social Democrats whose preferences plummeted this year. This happened for the first time in Median’s election model. The KSCM won 15.5 percent and the CSSD 14 percent.
The pollsters write that the poll only partly reflects the change in the CSSD leadership after Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka gave up the posts of party chairman and election leader two weeks ago.
The poll indicated that the Civic Democrats (ODS) are more successful than their rival TOP 09. The former right-wing opposition party gained 10 percent and the latter 7.5 percent.
The 10-percent threshold to enter the Chamber of Deputies is a challenge for the two-party alliance of the Christian Democrats (KDU-CSL) and Mayors and Independents (STAN). The KDU/STAN alliance won 9 percent, according to the poll.
The pollsters write that support for the alliance may develop dynamically because its election potential is 15 percent of the vote, while its hardcore supporters make up only 4 percent.
The Pirates, the Greens and Freedom and Direct Democracy (SPD) of populist Tomio Okamura all have the potential to cross the 5-percent threshold for individual parties, Median writes.
ANO has the biggest election potential and it may win up to 32 percent of the vote, however, it is hard to predict its popularity in the long term because the hardcore of its followers is rather limited (20 percent), the pollsters write.
The CSSD may gain up to 17 percent but its support may also drop below 10 percent, they write.
On the other hand, the Communists have a relatively big camp of hardcore voters and a small group of more independent supporters.
kvaúdr/ms
