Its founders call themselves “anti-populist”. Opinion polls expect TOP 09, the new political party led by former Czech Foreign Minister, Karel Schwarzenberg, to win over 11% of the vote in the parliamentary elections scheduled for next spring, which would make it the country’s third largest party, ahead of the Communists. TOP 09 presents itself as a rival to the ODS, the Civic Democratic Party of ex-Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek. “Its strategy is based on implementing the many necessary reforms that the ODS, the main right-wing party, has never been able to push through,” writes Hospodářské Noviny. “TOP 09 has raised great expectations,” the business daily adds. Its popularity can only grow if it remains true to its stated intention of fighting corruption, which it has demonstrated by refusing to bring on board what the news website Aktualne.cz refers to as the ‘black souls’, corrupt politicians with a Communist past.
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