Center-Right Leads in Czech Vote

In the first election since the Czech Republic split from Slovakia, the center-right coalition of Premier Vaclav Klaus was holding a slim lead over leftist rivals, according to preliminary results Saturday.

As expected, Czech voters did not appear to follow the lead of other former Soviet-bloc nations in returning ex-Communists to power.

It was not clear Saturday whether Klaus’ coalition would win enough support for a comfortable majority in parliament. Final results were expected today.

With more than one-third of the vote counted, the Civic Democratic Party had 29.66% while the center-left Social Democrats, which includes many former Communists, had 26%.

Klaus’ coalition partners, the Christian Democrats and the Civil Democratic Alliance, respectively had 7.74% and 6.62%.

Klaus, a trained economist who has pursued a swift and apparently successful transition toward a free market since the peaceful split with Slovakia in 1993, was clearly disappointed that his Civic Democratic Party did not receive stronger support.

Nonetheless, he said he considered the vote a triumph when compared to Communist victories elsewhere in Eastern Europe.