Czech election follows bland campaign

Country profile: Czech Republic Czech voters are expected to follow a Europe-wide trend in the European elections and use their vote on Friday to punish their government.

The election follows a lacklustre, issue-free campaign, brightened only by former Czech porn star Dolly Buster. The 34-year-old has built up a sex empire in Germany but returned home to stand as a candidate for the Independent Initiative, formerly known as the Independent Erotic Initiative, under her married name, Nora Baumgartner.

Her television commercial shows her in a trademark tight red bra down on the farm milking cows and energetically shovelling manure.

"I'm here to throw out the dung," she says with porn-star conviction. "There are only 24 Czech deputies going to the European Parliament, and 23 of them will be men wearing grey suits. I'm here because I am one of the people."

She has rejected claims that she is using the election for free publicity, but polls show she has no hope of getting elected with less than 1 per cent support.

In all, 31 parties are contesting the European elections in the Czech Republic, including a monarchist party and the Ostrava-Is-Having-a-Good-Time Party, named after a Czech city.

The Eurosceptic Civic Democrats (ODS) of President Vaclav Klaus are expected to top the poll, attracting over a third of all votes.

They have run a slick, if empty, campaign, urging voters to "buy their ticket on the train". The equally Europhobic Communists are expected to come in second place with 19 per cent. They have a celebrity candidate of their own: the first, and as yet only, Czech astronaut, Mr Vladimir Remek, who in 1978 became the first man in space not from Russia or the US.

It remains unclear which groupings the ODS and the Communists will join in the new parliament.

The ruling Social Democrats of the Prime Minister, Mr Vladimir Spidla, were criticised for running a characteristically bland election campaign, with the slogan: "Europe: mainly for the people." They hope to appeal to voters as the competent, responsible party that led the Czech Republic to the EU, but polls show that the party can expect only 10 per cent support.

Independent candidates are expected to attract up to 14 per cent support: one Independent candidate is headed by a former foreign minister; another is the Czech mogul Vladimir Zelezny, who is being pursued by the authorities for alleged tax evasion worth €19 million.

The Czechs appear to have overcome their apathy to the EU since accession last month: a mid-May poll showed that 83 per cent responded positively to EU membership.

But with little interest or understanding of the European Parliament, the Czech Republic is expected to have one of the lowest turnouts in the EU, with one poll showing that only every fifth voter will bother to cast their vote.

But the polls vary widely, with another predicting 30 per cent and a third, 50 per cent.