The Communist override

Martin Jahn is expected to announce this morning that he won't run in next year's elections on ČSSD's ticket. Jiří Paroubek will look for all kinds of excuses to temper the news, but he'll avoid the real issue - the Communists. Jahn presumably knows more than the rest of us about Paroubek's intentions, and his departure is a warning that Paroubek truly sees himself at the helm of a Communist-backed government after the 2006 elections. Even if ODS wins next year, it could still be pushed aside by ČSSD and the Communists. The CR would then begin to change in perceptible ways. The new labor code is a taste of what would follow. ODS would still have control of the Senate, but the Left would always be able to override a Senate or presidential veto. Some centrist politicians will wonder why they never tried to make it harder for the lower house to exercise its override.