Kalousek says Social Democrats TOP 09’s main election rival

TOP 09 deputy chair Miroslav Kalousek has said his party’s main rival in the next general elections will be the Social Democrats, who he claims are increasingly falling under the influence of President Miloš Zeman. Mr. Kalousek said he believed the president would try to use his influence in the party to try to introduce a semi-presidential system in the Czech Republic, something TOP 09 was determined to prevent. TOP 09 chair Karel Schwarzenberg has likewise expressed the view that the country’s parliamentary democracy is at threat from the president and said that in view of the weakened position of the Civic Democratic Party, TOP 09 is the only force on the right able to stand up in its defense.