TABLE-Czech right halts dip, coalition rating rises

...its lead over the left, an opinion poll 
showed on Tuesday. 
    The poll by the STEM agency showed the three-party, 
centre-right coalition would win 45.1 percent of the vote in the 
event of an election, up from 44.4 percent a month ago. 
    That is above a total of 39.5 percent for the opposition 
Social Democrats (CSSD) and the Communists (KSCM), whose 
combined rating dipped from 40.2 percent last month. 
    The coalition would win 104 seats in the 200-seat lower 
house of parliament, the poll showed. 
    The right-wing Civic Democrats (ODS) formed a cabinet with 
the centrist Christian Democrats (KDU-CSL) and the Green Party 
in January. The coalition has just 100 seats in the lower house, 
but has been supported by two defectors from the Social 
Democrats. 
    In April, the government presented fiscal reforms cutting 
spending and lowering taxes, which leftists say are mainly aimed 
at the rich. The reforms, however, also sparked protests within 
the coalition, and their fate is uncertain in parliamentary 
readings due over the summer. 
    The government has said it would try to provoke early 
elections if the reforms fail in parliament over the summer. 
    The opposition called a vote of no-confidence for Wednesday 
but it will almost certainly fall short of the 101 votes needed 
to oust the cabinet. 
     
 DATE    INSTITUTE   ODS    CSSD   KSCM   KDU-CSL  Greens 
 June 19   STEM      29.3   27.0   12.5    5.9       9.9 
 June 16   FI        33.5   30.8   12.7    8.8       9.2 
 May 23    CVVM      35.0   29.0   15.5    9.5       9.0 
 May 17    STEM      28.6   27.6   12.6    6.6       9.2 
 May 9     FI        34.5   32.3   12.2    9.1       7.0 
 April 18  STEM      29.2   24.9   10.9    6.6      11.6 
 April 18  CVVM      35.0   29.0   14.0    8.0      10.5 
 March 28  FI        35.1   26.9   13.0    8.2      11.0 
 March 21  CVVM      34.5   29.0   15.0    9.0       9.0 
 March 14  STEM      32.0   23.7   10.9    7.0      11.1 
 Feb 26    FI        34.7   29.5   13.3    7.3       7.6 
 Feb 21    CVVM      34.5   26.0   15.5    8.0      12.0 
 Feb 15    STEM      31.3   23.4   12.7    7.6      10.3 
 Feb 1     CVVM      37.0   24.5   16.0    8.0      11.5 
 Jan 26    FI        36.5   29.5   14.1    7.3       7.6 
 Jan 16    STEM      32.3   20.9   12.4    7.5      11.1 
 Dec 20    CVVM      38.0   23.5   11.5   11.0      12.0 
 Dec 15    STEM      32.9   20.6   13.1    7.0      11.2 
 Dec 07    FI        35.8   30.9   14.3    6.6       7.2 
 Nov 23    CVVM      41.0   26.0   11.0    7.0      11.0 
 Nov 15    STEM      35.1   20.7   10.9    7.5       9.4 
 Nov 10    FI        41.1   27.7   12.7    6.0       7.1 
 Oct 23    CVVM      36.0   30.5   15.0    6.0       9.5 
 Oct 16    FI        35.9   27.2   13.9    6.9       8.4 
 Oct 15    STEM      32.0   22.7   11.7    6.3      10.5 
 Sept 22   CVVM      37.0   29.5   13.0    8.0      10.0 
 Sept 21   STEM      32.8   26.6   10.0    4.2      10.3 
 Sept 18   FI        36.3   32.0   13.7    6.5       7.3 
 Aug 7     FI        41.0   30.8   12.3    6.3       6.9 
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June 2006 election   35.4   32.3   12.8    7.2       6.3 
  
    NOTE. The STEM poll was conducted between June 1 and June 8 
among 1213 Czechs. 
 The parties are: 
 - Civic Democratic Party (ODS) - right wing, 
liberal-conservative 
 - The Czech Social Democratic Party (CSSD) - leftist 
 - Christian Democratic Union-Czechoslovak People's Party 
(KDU-CSL) - centrist 
 - The Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia (KSCM) - far left 
 - The Greens - environmentalists, centrist. 
   Pollsters: The FI and CVVM results are based on a model 
predicting gains at the poll box, excluding those not willing to 
vote and undecided. 
   STEM results are direct voter preferences, and include 
replies from all respondents including those not willing to 
vote. Parties should thus win a larger than indicated share of 
the vote at the election. 
  
  Keywords: CZECH POLITICS/POLL