Czech Communist party lowering average age - spokeswoman

Prague - The average age of the Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia (KSCM) members is decreasing, Vera Zezulkova, from the party´s press department, has told CTK, adding that young people are now applying for membership right at meetings which was not usual in the past.

Zezulkova said the party is only completing data on membership as from end-2011, but she added that the number of members may have increased after years of decline.

The party had 62,000 members as from December 31, 2010, that makes it the second strongest party after the Christian Democrats (KDU-CSL).

The KSCM has been represented in the Chamber of Deputies parliament since the communist regime was toppled in end 1989.

The KDU-CSL did not make into the lower house of parliament for the first time in the post-communist era in the latest general election in 2010.

According to available data, the KSCM had more than 350,000 members in 1992. In 1998 the number dropped to 140,000 and in 2008 to 77,000. In April 2010 it had 66,627 members.

Elderly people prevailed among the members.

The KSCM will hold a congress in Liberec, north Bohemia, in May. It will be electing the party´s chairperson and other leading officials.

The current chairman Vojtech Filip, 57, is expected to be defending the post that he has held since 2005. He will be probably competing with deputy Stanislav Grospic like four years ago.

Author: CTK
www.ctk.cz

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