Prague - Nearly 70 per cent of Czechs disagree with the positioning of a United States missile-defence radar on Czech territory, according to the results of an opinion poll released Tuesday. The latest poll by the Public Opinion Research Center (CVVM) showed that while 68 per cent were against the move, 26 per cent of respondents supported the planned radar base.
Respondents in polls carried out by the CVVM, who said they do not know what to think of the US facility, have mostly joined the opposition ranks.
In September 2006, 62 per cent of Czechs were against the facility, while 24 per cent backed it and 14 per cent did not know. In the latest poll, on six per cent of respondents were undecided.
The US have requested the Czech Republic and Poland to host a tracking radar and interceptor missiles, respectively. The facilities are planned as part of the a US defence system, developed to counter potential long-range missiles from so-called rogue states, including Iran.
While the governments of the Czech Republic and Poland have entered into official talks with Washington, opinion polls have shown that the majority of people in the two Central European countries oppose hosting the US bases.
The Czech government and backers of the radar, including former president Vaclav Havel, have dismissed calls for a referendum on the issue, arguing that security matters should not be decided in popular votes.
As the country does not have a law on general referendum, the public does not have means to induce a nationwide popular vote.
The opposition has called for a referendum on the radar facility but does not command enough votes in the parliament to push through neither a general nor a one-time US-radar-base referendum bill.
So far, villages near the proposed radar site have been planning local referenda, which only bind their councils, in order to give voice to their opposition. Trokavec, the first village to vote on the radar, rejected the facility in March.
