Center-right wins Czech election on austerity plan

PRAGUE - Center-right Czech parties advocating austerity to prevent a Greek-style debt crisis beat pro-welfare leftists in an election on Saturday and looked set to form a government able to push through deep economic reforms.

The result is likely to end a year of uncertainty in which a caretaker cabinet has tried to steer the country through an economic crisis after a center-right government collapsed while Prague held the reins of the rotating EU presidency.

While coalition talks including a new, untested centrist party may be tough, it virtually eliminated chances of a stalemate.