ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, June 3, 1996 TAG: 9606030115
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A6 EDITION: METRO
PRAGUE, Czech Republic - The center-right coalition of Premier Vaclav Klaus narrowly lost its parliamentary majority, according to election results Sunday that called into question the direction and pace of free-market reforms.
In the balloting, the first since the Czech Republic split from Slovakia in 1993, voters did not follow the lead of some other former Soviet-bloc countries in returning ex-Communists to power.
Klaus' three-party coalition won 99 of Parliament's 200 seats, down from 112 deputies in the outgoing legislature, according to unofficial results released by the election commission Sunday.
The election set the stage for political maneuvering, and there were increasing signs that Klaus could try to form a minority government with some support in Parliament from the main opposition Social Democratic Party. - Associated Press Pope canonizes French missionary
VATICAN CITY - Pope John Paul II canonized a French missionary executed in China and prayed Sunday that he would inspire Chinese Catholics still under persecution.
Recalling all the church's martyrs in China, the pope said he hoped that making Jean Gabriel Perboyre a saint would be a ``sign of hope for the church present in the breast of this people, to whom I remain very close in heart and in prayer.''
Also canonized Sunday were Juan Grande Roman, who founded a hospital and worked for health reform in 16th century Spain, and Egidio Maria Di San Giuseppe Pontillo, a monk who joined the Franciscan order in 1754 and dedicated his life to the poor. - Associated Press
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