• Anniversary of death of Jan Palach marked in hometown
    01/19/2003

    A ceremony to mark the death of Jan Palach was held in his home town of Vsetaty, central Bohemia on Saturday. Jan Palach died on January 19, 1969, three days after setting himself on fire on Prague's Wencelsas Square in protest against the 1968 occupation of Czechoslovakia by Soviet-led troops.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Zeman Social Democrats' candidate for second presidential vote
    01/18/2003

    The governing Social Democrats have chosen former party leader Milos Zeman as their candidate for next Friday's second attempt to find a successor to President Vaclav Havel. A first vote on Wednesday proved inconclusive. The two smaller parties in the governing coalition, the Christian Democrats and the Freedom Union, have said however they will not support Mr Zeman for president. Neither party has yet announced a candidate of their own, but the Christian Democrats have said Petr Pithart, their unsuccessful candidate in Wednesday's vote, will not be standing again.

    Apart from Mr Zeman, the only other candidate so far is the opposition Civic Democrats' Vaclav Klaus, who did best in Wednesday's vote. The Communist Party are not expected to field a candidate, and are planning to hold talks about possible support with the parties who are putting a candidate forward.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Defence minister visits troops in Kosovo, Kuwait
    01/18/2003

    The minister of defence, Jaroslav Tvrdik, has begun a visit to Czech troops based in Kosovo and Kuwait. Mr Tvrdik began the trip a day after the approval of a government resolution allowing for Czech anti-chemical warfare forces based in Kuwait to be reinforced and deployed in a possible war against Iraq. Over 100 soldiers are to be sent to Kuwait at the end of January, bringing the total number of Czech soldiers in the Persian Gulf to over 350.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • President Havel makes final official visit to Germany
    01/18/2003

    President Vaclav Havel met senior German politicians, including Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and President Johannes Rau, on a visit to Berlin on Friday. Mr Havel also presented Czech state decorations to five people who had worked to improve Czech-German relations, including two Sudeten Germans expelled from Czechoslovakia after World War II. President Havel steps down on February 2 after 13 years in office.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Restaurant owner ordered to apologise to Romanies he refused service
    01/18/2003

    The owner of a restaurant in Ostrava, north Moravia has been ordered by Ostrava Regional Court to publicly apologise to three Romany men he refused to serve in February 1999. Owner Jiri Justik told the court during Friday's hearing that there had been no free tables in his restaurant, and the judge ruled that the incident had no racial subtext.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Anniversary of death of Jan Palach marked in hometown
    01/18/2003

    A ceremony to mark the death of Jan Palach was held in his home town of Vsetaty, central Bohemia on Saturday. Jan Palach died on January 19, 1969, three days after setting himself on fire on Prague's Wencelsas Square in protest against the 1968 occupation of Czechoslovakia by Soviet-led troops.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Second presidential election to be held January 24
    01/17/2003

    Leaders of the parties in parliament have agreed to hold a second presidential election on January 24th. A first attempt on Wednesday ended inconclusively. The Christian Democrats have announced Wednesday's candidate, Senate chairman Petr Pithart, will not be standing in the next elections. The Civic Democrats' candidate will once again be Vaclav Klaus, who won the most votes on Wednesday. Prime Minister Vladimir Spidla's Social Democrats are due to choose their candidate on Saturday, with some elements in the party lobbying strongly for former leader Milos Zeman.
    Author: Dita Asiedu

  • Zeman supporters pushing for candidacy ahead of second presidential vote
    01/16/2003

    The Labour and Social Affairs Minister, Zdenek Skromach, has said that his Social Democratic Party's former leader, Milos Zeman, is the only person who could defeat the Civic Democrats' Vaclav Klaus in a presidential election. Mr Klaus was the most successful of four candidates in a first presidential vote on Wednesday, but did not receive enough support to win. One wing of the Social Democrats supports Mr Zeman, and did not obey current party leader Vladimir Spidla's call to vote for the Christian Democrats' Petr Pithart after the Social Democrats' own candidate did not make it out of the first round on Wednesday. Mr Spidla and the other two parties in the governing coalition, the Christian Democrats and the Freedom Union, are opposed to Mr Zeman standing. The Social Democrats are to decide on Saturday on their candidate for a second presidential vote. Party leaders are to meet on Friday to discuss when such a vote will be held.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Parties divided over allowing direct presidential vote
    01/16/2003

    While the Freedom Union and the Christian Democrats are calling for a change in the constitution to allow for direct presidential elections, representatives of the Social Democrats and the Communist Party said on Thursday they would prefer to first try a second parliamentary vote. In a statement the Civic Democrats said they were prepared for either a second parliamentary vote or a direct election, and would support no other candidate than Vaclav Klaus.
    Author: Ian Willoughby

  • Third round fails to produce new president for the Czech Republic
    01/15/2003

    The third round of voting in the Czech presidential election taking place in both houses of parliament Wednesday has ended in a stalemate for the two presidential candidates to get through the first two rounds, former prime minister and Civic Democrat Vaclav Klaus, and chairman of the Senate and Christian Democrat Petr Pithart, each trying to replace retiring President Vaclav Havel. Against expectations Vaclav Klaus came out as the strongest candidate in all three rounds. Earlier I asked my colleague Rob Cameron, who was covering the elections, whether Mr Klaus' strong showing was expected:

    "I think it is something of a surprise. This morning Petr Pithart, the chairman of the Senate, was being described as the favourite, it seemed he would be able to garner enough support among the deputies and senators to be elected president in the 3rd round - that did not happen, in fact. He was heavily defeated by Vaclav Klaus, the former prime minister, the former leader of the Civic Democrats. Mr Klaus came out far ahead of Mr Pithart; he wasn't elected president but he certainly came out better than Mr Pithart did."

    Where do we go from here?

    "Well, there will be a second attempt to elect a president that could take place at any time in the next month, so it does seem almost certain now that the Czech Republic will be without a head of state for weeks, if not months."

    That election would still utilise the current system of electing a president, of course.

    "It would indeed, that would be another parliamentary vote, we're not going to have a popular vote yet, and there's going to be some very, very heavy bargaining over the next few weeks to try and drum up enough support for one candidate to try and make it through."

    Given the rather disappointing finish for Petr Pithart in the end, is it likely that he'll get the call the 2nd time around?

    "I am really not sure, I think he would be wise to hold talks first of all to make sure he does have enough support to do that, because I think that not only he, but also the governing coalition have been made to look fairly foolish today. As I said he was described as the favourite, a sort of 'compromise' candidate that everyone could accept, someone who it would be possible to negotiate support for? It hasn't happened."
    Author: Jan Velinger

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