Too many chiefs spoil the poll

Three environmentalist, four Eurosceptic and three pro-European parties… In the Czech Republic, many small groups vied for votes in the European elections....and came away with. For Respekt magazine, it's a problem of too many “little chiefs”, and not enough “little Indians”. Commenting on the fate of the Greens, whose leader Martin Bursik has resigned in the wake of a catastrophic result of only 2% and on President Václav Klaus who supported the Eurosceptics, the Czech weekly insists that many of the small parties could have succeeded if their leaders had been able to join forces. “But in the Czech Republic,” it observes, “we only have little chiefs who believe they are indispensable, and virtually no one willing to take on the role of rank and file Indians. As always, this is deemed to be an insoluble problem.”