WHAT'S ON BRITSKÉ LISTY

What Social Democrats Should Learn from These Elections

1. 6. 2010 / Karel Dolejší

When it comes to the political legacy of Jiří Paroubek, the malicious remark from a certain right wing supporter that said that someone who is supposedly on the side of those in need might not be that of a potbelly after all. That's not by far everything, though, because if it will be confirmed the information that the former premier left a bill of 800 million Czech crowns to the Social Democrats, that will mean such a tremendous burden on the party and in two respects at the same time.

First of all, it will be of course extremelly difficult and expensive to manage such a huge debt, not to mention pay it. Second -- and probably even worse -- the debt apparently gives proof of the Right's accusation that the Left doesn't know how to administrate money responsibly.

Once all the information about the debt came to light, it became just a matter of time for when someone would say: "And that's exactly how they would administrate our tax money, if the Social Democrats were in power".

For as long as that debt will exist, and very probably even much longer, it will damage the credibility of the party and put into question their ability to manage in a reasonable way financial matters.

At stake now is the credibility of the party's notorious known contacts with the most varied mafia-like groups (from those in charge of the amusement parks or electric plants) and its main challenge will be the ability to reach younger voters.

If the Social Democrats will still continue to be the party of types like Paroubek, with his big shot apparatus, tastelessly boasting about his big salary -- which is a mistake that not even the not-so-intelligent ex-Secretary General of the Commist Party during the old regime made -- and if the Social Democratic party will stay a political channel for types less fierce than the typical ODS fan, then it will mean that from this year's "Pyrrhic victory" they have learned nothing and didn't understand anything.

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