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Czech coalition party turns liberal in vote quest
Reuters
Monday 24 Apr 2006 PRAGUE (Reuters) - A small party in the Czech coalition government has swapped its centre-right image for toleration of graffiti and marijuana in a late bid to win more votes in the June 2-3 parliamentary election. The Freedom Union (US), which opinion polls show has almost no chance of crossing the 5 percent threshold to win seats, rolled out a poster and Internet campaign with English slogans like "It's legal to protest" and "It's legal to be different". The "New Freedom Union" is promising to stop the persecution of the small and vulnerable, such as those who spray graffiti on walls, smoke marijuana or just "want to live a little or completely differently than it suits the potentates". "Arrogance of power, bullying of people by bureaucrats, injustice, corruption, political and economic monkey business, we will sweep all this from the stall so people ridden of dirt and stink can live better! We are the party of protest again!" Freedom Union chief Pavel Nemec, 34, said in a statement. The party's Internet sites www.uniesvobody.cz and newly www.its-legal.us open with an animation of a white pentagon, which the party calls "the strongest and perhaps longest lasting symbol in human history", being sprayed over purple background. The transformation looks quirky for a party which has been in government for four years, and for Nemec, also the justice minister, who usually wears expensive suits and sets up meetings in posh hotels instead of his office. Pollster Daniel Kunstat of the state-run CVVM institute said the last-gasp attempt to lure voters had little chance of success. "For young people it will no longer look credible, when two weeks ago Nemec was an uptight politician, a completely different type from what the party is offering now," he said. The centre-right opposition Civic Democrats (ODS) are leading opinion polls ahead of the election, followed by the ruling leftist Social Democrats (CSSD). But no party is expected to win a majority and a number of coalitions are possible. The Freedom Union has gradually lost support amid internal infighting and its weak position in the centre-left government, and has been polling less than three percent in opinion surveys. In the 2002 election the Freedom Union ran together with the centrist Christian Democrats and took a combined 14.27 percent. The Christian Democrats are running on their own this time.
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