Government might release information on presidential election lobbying

PM Mirek Topolánek told reporters on Thursday that the government might release classified background information on a meeting between a Social Democrat lobbyist and the head of the president’s office, Jiří Weigl, which took place at Prague’s Savoy Hotel days before the presidential election in February last year. Video footage of the meeting was made public and led to speculation that President Klaus was attempting to illicitly gain votes from some Social Democrat MPs. An ex-policeman and a former employee of the Czech intelligence service, BIS, were accused of leaking the footage and are facing five years in prison.