Partial results: Czech left takes lead in early election

Czech center-left Social Democrats took an early lead in the central European country's parliamentary election, partial results showed on Saturday. The party, which plans to raise taxes for banks and big firms, led with 22.2 percent of the vote after 10 percent of polling stations had reported. A new centrist protest movement called ANO had 18.3 percent and the Communists 18.0 percent, Voice of Russia reported. The ballot caps months of political turmoil set off by a spy and bribery scandal that brought down the center-right government of Petr Necas in June. Voters already swung left in January, electing former Communist Milos Zeman as president after a decade under the right-wing and eurosceptic Vaclav Klaus. Despite an apparent Social Democrat victory, it was unclear Saturday whether they would team up with the Communists or ANO.