Opposition Wins in Senate Elections

In a blow to the governing Social Democrats, a center-right coalition won a surprise victory in Czech Senate elections, and another opposition party finished second. Candidates for the four-party coalition led by the Christian Democrats and the Freedom Union won in 13 of 27 districts in the two days of runoff voting. They were followed by the conservative Civic Democratic Party of former Premier Vaclav Klaus, which won nine seats. The ruling Social Democrats came in third with three, according to official results announced by the Central Election Committee. The Senate is by far the less important of the two legislative bodies in the Czech Republic.