Czech court ruling on electoral law to help small parties

PRAGUE (AP) — The Czech Republic’s highest court has canceled several provisions of the country’s electoral law as discriminatory small parties. The Constitutional Court dismissed those rules that it said gave big parties disproportionately high numbers of seats in Parliament after elections. The court ruled Wednesday it’s not in line with the proportional representation electoral system used at the election for the lower house of Parliament. It has also canceled parts of the law that requires coalitions to win more votes than parties to gain seats. Both chambers of Parliament need to agree on necessary changes to amend the electoral law in line with the court’s verdict ahead of general elections scheduled for October.