TOP lives or dies with Tuma
Zdeněk Tůma might be the total opposite of Jiří Paroubek, but they have one thing in common: Their rivals need them out of top-level politics. Tůma won an impressive victory in Prague over the weekend and has a sort of moral right to become mayor. Leaders of ODS and ČSSD will pontificate about wanting to join forces (separately) with TOP 09 and driving their own disgraced politicians out of Prague city hall, but they'll soon concede that denying Tůma the mayor's chain would deal TOP a huge blow and could prevent the party from ever challenging ODS as the dominant force on the right. Except for a few bright spots, TOP actually did miserably in the elections. Its two main faces are the increasingly discredited Miroslav Kalousek and the increasingly incomprehensible Karel Schwarzenberg. Without Mayor Tůma to give it fresh energy, TOP might soon wither away like VV, helping both ODS and ČSSD.
Glossary of difficult words
to pontificate - to express one's opinion in a way considered annoyingly pompous and dogmatic;to concede - to admit that something is true or valid after first denying or resisting it;
to deal - to inflict (a blow) on someone or something;
incomprehensible - unintelligible, impossible to understand;
to wither away - to cease to flourish; to fall into decay or decline.