Prague Mayor Pavel Bém says City Hall's colors are about to change — to blue.

Bém, the Civic Democratic (ODS) candidate for mayor, easily won re-election in local elections Oct. 20–21, with the ODS winning 54.4 percent of the vote in the capital against the Social Democrat's 16 percent.

That lopsided victory is likely to spell the end of City Hall's traditional coalition between the right-wing ODS and left-wing ČSSD, which has governed for eight years.

Bém told the daily Mladá fronta Dnes that he doesn't expect to build a grand coalition this time around, given the scope of the ODS victory. "I would prefer a one-colored City Hall, belonging to the Civic Democrats," he said.

That could turn against the ODS in the long run, says Jiří Pehe, a political analyst and director of the New York University in Prague. "The ODS will now be under much greater scrutiny," he said. "Obviously, with more power comes more responsibility."

Pehe adds, "It will be a big test for the ODS. With no party keeping the ODS in check, opportunities for corruption will be great. The ODS will now really show how much self-discipline it has as a party."

Steaming ahead

The ODS's landslide victory in Prague mirrored the party's performance nationwide in the weekend's local and Senate elections, prompting the Czech press to dub the party "the blue steamroller" (it had named its campaign "the blue chance").

The Civic Democrats won in all the country's major cities and are all but guaranteed to take a majority in the Senate.

Nationwide in municipal elections, the ODS won 32.1 percent of the vote in the country's 72 largest cities and towns, and the ČSSD took 19.1 percent of the vote, according to media.

The ODS looks likely to add another 11 to 14 seats to the 35 it currently holds in the 81-seat Senate, giving it a clear majority, after second-round voting is complete.

Voter turnout was low in both municipal and Senate elections, 44 percent, according to Mladá fronta Dnes.

The ODS traditionally does well in local elections, but its dominance seemed aided considerably this time around by the long list of corruption scandals currently plaguing its chief rival, the ČSSD.

Political analyst Zdenek Zbořil says the scandals were definitely on voters' minds when they went to the polls.

"It is the ČSSD's inappropriate handling of police information that people remember," says Zbořil, referring to the infamous Kubice report investigation, in which dozens of prominent politicians were wiretapped.

Some analysts are troubled that the media went big with reports about ČSSD scandals right before the elections, suggesting a certain level of bias. "It's very dangerous," says Vladimíra Dvořáková, who teaches political science at the Prague University of Economics.

Local politics won't change much

Back in Prague, smaller parties trailed far behind the ODS and ČSSD at the municipal polls.

The Communists won 7.9 percent of the vote, and the Green Party followed closely, with 7.8 percent.

Analysts say that the end of the grand coalition at Prague City Hall will not have too much impact on local policies or the development of the city in the near future. The ODS, after all, already had a great deal of clout even while running the city in a coalition with the ČSSD.

"The ODS always had the majority here," says Pehe. "The ČSSD was really only an appendage, without too much real power."