Miloš Zeman elected chairman of Citizens’ Rights Party

Miloš Zeman has been elected chairman of the newly established Citizens’ Rights Party. His election, at the party’s weekend conference, comes as no surprise since the party was established around the former Social Democrat prime minister as an alternative for dissatisfied left-wing voters. Mr. Zeman, who put the Social Democrats on the Czech political map, served as prime minister between 1998 and 2002, retiring a year later after he lost a bid for the presidency to the current head of state Vaclav Klaus. He was increasingly critical of the Social Democrats in later years and officially left the party in 2007. Some of his former allies have left the Social Democrats to join his Citizens’ Rights Party. The newly elected chairman is expected to set the course and mastermind the party’s election strategy in the upcoming general elections.