Undeclared coalitions have been a regular feature of Czech parliamentary elections for three decades, but they didn't become a rallying cry of the "democratic" part of the political spectrum until this year, after SPD and the Communists realized that such alliances could be used to avoid wasting a million votes in the elections. Czech TV and other pro-government media immediately started warning against "pseudo-coalitions." Chief Justice Josef Baxa and the other judges of the Constitutional Court could have accepted the argument that it's different this time, because so much is at stake, but they didn't. Their unanimous ruling makes no mention of any menace to democracy. Private media may continue to label SPD and Stačilo! in any way they want, but the Court ruling changes the situation for Czech TV and Czech Radio. Culture Min. Martin Baxa of ODS had justified a fee hike for them because they're the "key guardian of democracy." Now they must even be a "guardian" of SPD and Stačilo!.