During Saturday's KDU-CSL meeting held in Ostrava, parliamentary budget committee chairman Miroslav Kalousek was elected the new party chairman. He was supported by a total of 164 delegates present at the meeting during the second round of elections, whereas chairman Cyril Svoboda only received the support of 131 delegates. The delegates also elected a completely new party leadership.

The first deputy chairman of KDU-CSL is Kalousek's close supporter, parliamentary deputy chairman Jan Kasal. He is joined by other deputy chairmen, who have experience working at the head of the party - former chairman and Foreign Minister Cyril Svoboda and Transportation Minister Milan Simonovsky.

After the election, Kalousek stated that he is not planning to make any changes in the coalition government, despite the fact that after this Ostrava meeting, his party is the only coalition member whose chairman is not a member of the cabinet.

(PBJ 10.xi.03)