PRAGUE, May 29 (Reuters) - Centre-right parties led in a Czech election on Saturday that pitted leftist pledges of protecting people from crisis against warnings from the right that the left will lead the country to bankruptcy.
The following are comments by party officials and political analysts.
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PETR NECAS, ELECTION LEADER, CIVIC DEMOCRATS
"If (the results) are confirmed, it would mean big chance for creating a coalition of fiscal responsibility, a coalition this country needs in these hard times, a coalition we are ready for," Necas told reporters.
JAN ZAHRADIL, MEMBER OF EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, CIVIC DEMOCRATS (ODS)
"This is very interesting result, which opens a whole range of possibilities, let's wait to see what the voters gave us."
"For ODS, a success would be the formation of the government of budget responsibility, a government which prevents the Czech Republic to fall into the deficit trap."
RADEK JOHN, PARTY LEADER, PUBLIC AFFAIRS (VV)
"It was a vote against big parties and a referendum against (Social Democrat leader Jiri) Paroubek. We hoped that the result would be double digit, more than 20 MPs, that is strong."
BOHUSLAV SOBOTKA, VICE-CHAIRMAN, SOCIAL DEMOCRATS (CSSD)
"We must wait for the real numbers, at the moment we are working with estimates only."
"If the numbers were valid than it is not particularly cheerful, but at the moment we must wait for the real numbers and I am convinced that the Social Democrats can arise from these elections as the real winner."
PAVEL SARADIN, POLITICAL ANALYST
"It is only an estimate and as it turned out four years ago, it was highly overestimated.
"This only confirms some tendencies from past weeks, which means a shift from the big parties to some of the smaller ones."
"If the final result was like these estimates, then the centre and rightist parties are on their course to taking power."
MILAN ZNOJ, POLITICAL ANALYST
"If the results are like this, it would be a shock to the political scene. It would be a big victory for the right and a defeat for the left, mainly the Social Democrats."