PRAGUE, Czech Republic, Sept. 23 (UPI) -- The ruling Social Democrats in the Czech Republic have gained in opinion polls since the accession of Prime Minister Stanislav Gross.
An opinion poll by the STEM agency quoted in Thursday's edition of the Mlada Fronta Dnes newspaper suggested the Social Democrats had the support of 16.3 percent of voters in September compared with 13.6 percent in a similar poll taken by the same agency in July. The poll put the Social Democrats in second place, overtaking the largely unreformed Communist Party, whose support dropped to 15.5 percent from 19.1 percent.
The rightist opposition Civic Democrats continued to hold a strong lead taking 31.6 percent. The only other party to cross the 5 percent threshold necessary for parliamentary representation was the Christian Democrat Party, which took 7.6 percent. The Freedom Union had the support of just 1.1 percent of voters, the poll suggested.
Gross formally replaced Vladimir Spidla as prime minister last month. Spidla was ousted by his own party after a disastrous showing in elections to the European Parliament in June.
The poll was conducted among a representative sample of 1,732 adults between September 1 and 10.
