When East Meets West

In recent national elections in the Czech Republic, the Social Democrats handily defeated the Civic Democratic Party led by former Prime Minister Vaclav Klaus, a devotee of Margaret Thatcher. In April, the Hungarian Socialist Party together with the liberal Free Democrats squeaked past then Prime Minister Viktor Orban's conservative coalition to win the country's parliamentary elections. And in Poland last September, a left-wing coalition ousted the hapless Solidarity-led government from power. Are Central Europeans slowing the center-right's momentum across Europe?

Not exactly. In fact, the Central European left has often been more successful in implementing "right-wing" policies...

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