CZECH VICE-PM SEES WIDER DEBATE AT PARTY CONGRESS .
PRAGUE 1996-12-06
Saturday 's national congress of the ruling Czech Civic Democratic Party ( ODS ) will discuss making the party more efficient and transparent , Foreign Minister and ODS vice-chairman Josef Zieleniec , said on Friday .
" Modernisation and more profesionalism of the party 's structure , having financing of the party be more transparent ...
are absolutely fundamental , " Zieleniec , who is also vice-premier in the government , told Reuters .
He said after June general elections in which the ruling three-party coalition lost its parliamentary majority , the ODS executive , led by Prime Minister Vaclav Klaus , had developed proposals on these subjects to present at the congress on Saturday in the Czech second city Brno .
" I am convinced , that the congress will tackle these proposals , " he said .
The ODS , a party in which Klaus often tries to emulate the style of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher , has been in control of Czech politics since winning general elections in 1992 .
Zieleniec in the summer led calls for the party and its leadership to listen to more diverse opinions , a thinly-veiled criticism of Klaus who has spearheaded the country 's post-Communist economic reforms .
The party , led by the vigorously-confident Klaus , took 32 of 81 seats after late November runoff elections to the new upper house of Czech parliament .
But after the first round vote a week before , the ODS had the potential to win as many 79 seats .
Klaus and his coalition lost its majority in parliament in June lower house elections after the left-wing opposition consolidated , putting the centre-left Social Democrats in a strong second-place position .
-- Prague Newsroom 42-2-2423-0003