Lux leaves high politics

The resignation of Josef Lux from the post of Christian Democratic Union (KDU-CSL) chairman, forced by illness, will have a number of consequences for his own party and Czech politics in general. After the country's two biggest parties--the Civic Democratic Party (ODS) and the Social Democratic Party (CSSD)--signed the so-called opposition agreement (whose main objectives are the elimination of small parties through changes in the country's electoral system and changes in the constitution), Lux became the unofficial leader of the opposition.

He has repeatedly criticized the opposition agreement as "undemocratic" because its main purpose is to silence minority opinions and its most visible effect is the division of power between two parties that were before the elections engaged in a seemingly merciless ideological battle. While before the elections parties could be described as rightist, centrist, or leftist (despite the fact that in all-post communist countries such labels are tentative), the agreement between the CSSD and the ODS introduced a new kind of division into Czech politics. Main political battles are being waged not between ideological opponents on the right-left scale but between big parties on the one side and and small parties on the other.

In the context of the opposition agreement's philosophy, small parties are "bad," whereas big parties are "good." As some ODS and CSSD politicians have said, the agreement is designed to simulate a two party system. Lux has been the most powerful voice in criticizing such an arrangement. He has kept reminding voters that the two big parties represent only about 60 percent of the electorate, and that their attempts to do away with parties representing the remaining 40 percent of Czech voters are undemocratic. Lux's departure from high politics means that the two big parties may find fulfilling their objectives easier.

Lux's departure is bad news for the KDU-CSL. Lux has not only transformed the KDU-CSL from a communist satellite into a typical right-of-center Christian democratic party. He has also managed to transform this relatively small party into a major political force. Relying on the fact that the KDU-CSL has a steady core of supporters among Catholics, he made himself and his party indispensable to all coalition governments between 1990 and July 1998. The question of who will replace Lux as party leader will be of paramount importance. Each of the three obvious candidates--Jan Kasal, Miloslav Vyborny, and Cyril Svoboda--represents a different style and is supported by a different constituency within the party.

In various governments, Lux skillfully defended his party's interests. Such efforts, normal in all democracies, were repeatedly condemned by the ODS, whose leaders believed that small coalition parties, and the KDU-CSL in particular, were trying to grab more power than they should have in light of their electoral results. Although the ODS and the KDU-CSL worked together in the same coalition government, Lux was repeatedly vilified by ODS leaders. The fact the KDU-CSL was instrumental in bringing down the ailing government of Vaclav Klaus last December, provoked an open conflict between Lux and Klaus.

Lux was instrumental also in helping create the Tosovsky government. Although he has been often described by his opponents as a spineless, power-hungry politician, he, (after he was asked by President Havel to lead political talks on creating a government in December 1997), in the end proposed Josef Tosovsky for the post of prime minister. Klaus has always seen Lux's efforts, as well as the departure of leading politicians from the ODS last December, as a betrayal. The opposition agreement is, in many ways, Klaus's revenge.

Lux departure is bad news also for the coalition of four right-of-center parties that was created in September with the objective of challenging the ODS and the CSSD in the Senate and local government elections in November. Lux was the coalition's unofficial leader. It was party owing to his efforts that the four parties managed to overcome their disputes as to which candidates the coalition should nominate for the elections. After Lux's departure, Freedom Union Chairman Jan Ruml said he is becoming the unofficial leader of the coalition. However, Ruml does not have the same political skills as Lux. He also stands politically more to the right, which may mar the coalition's efforts to appeal not only to rightist but also centrist voters.

Reuters - 1. 10. 1998