TABLE-Czech rightists maintain lead in polls

    The Czech rightist Civic 
Democrats continue to hold a wide lead in opinion polls over the 
leftist opposition Social Democrats, a poll showed on Tuesday. 
    The Czech parliament is deadlocked, with the governing 
coalition holding 100 seats, the same as leftist parties. The 
stalemate has existed since an inconclusive election in June. 
    Civic Democrat leader and Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek 
heads a coalition with the centrist Christian Democrats and the 
Green Party. It faces a confidence vote in parliament on Friday. 
    If the government loses the vote the speaker will choose the 
next prime minister. If that prime minister fails to win a 
confidence vote the Czech president can call an early election. 
    The latest poll, by the STEM agency between Dec. 27 and Jan. 
5, showed the governing coalition would win 119 seats in the 
lower house to 81 for leftist parties. 
     
 DATE    INSTITUTE   ODS    CSSD   KSCM   KDU-CSL  Greens 
 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 
---------------------------------------------------------------- 
June 2-3 election    35.4   32.3   12.8    7.2       6.3 
  
 NOTE. 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. 
 ((Editing by Ian Jones; prague.newsroom@reuters.com; Reuters 
Messaging: jan.lopatka.reuters.com@reuters.net; +420-224 190 
474)) 
  Keywords: CZECH POLITICS/POLL  
    

[PRAGUE/Reuters/Finance.cz]