Former judge Pavel Varvařovský elected ombudsman

The lower house of Parliament elected on Tuesday former Constitutional Court judge Pavel Varvařovský, the new Czech ombudsman. Mr Varvařovský, who was nominated by the Senate, received 98 out of 181 votes in the second round of voting, defeating the other candidate, human rights activist John Bok, who was nominated by President Václav Klaus. Mr Varvařovský said earlier that the ombudsman should be able to participate in the lawmaking process rather than fix problems later.