ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, June 2, 1996 TAG: 9606030089
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A7 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC
Czechs voted to re-elect the center-right coalition of Premier Vaclav Klaus, bucking the eastern European trend of returning former Communists to power, according to exit polls Saturday.
Polling stations closed at 2 p.m. Saturday after two days of nationwide balloting, the first since the Czechoslovak federation split peacefully at the beginning of 1993.
The exit polls by the German INFAS and the Austrian IFES polling institutes showed Klaus' Civic Democratic Party 10 percentage points ahead of its closest rival, the Social Democratic Party.
INFAS gave Klaus's party 32.5 percent of the votes, his Christian Democratic allies 7.5 percent and the Civil Democratic Alliance, the other coalition partner, 5.5 percent. The Social Democrats had 22.5 percent.
According to IFES, Klaus's party and his two allies had 33 percent, 7 percent and 6 percent respectively. The Socialists were trailing with 23 percent. - Associated Press
LENGTH: Short : 31 lines KEYWORDS: ELECTIONby CNB