News

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.

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."

The four candidates for president are holding talks with deputies and senators in a last-minute effort to drum up support ahead of Wednesday's vote. The two houses of parliament are due to meet in a joint session at Prague Castle to choose a successor to President Vaclav Havel, who steps down in February after 13 years in the post. Observers say the likely outcome of Wednesday's vote is still too close to call, although the Christian Democrats Petr Pithart - chairman of the Senate - appears to be the strongest candidate. However it remains possible that the three-round election will fail to produce a winner, and the whole process might have to be repeated.

Both houses of the Czech parliament will begin the process of electing a successor to President Vaclav Havel on Wednesday. The former playwright's second and final term will end on February 2. There are four official candidates for the post, but it is likely none of them will get enough votes in the parliament. To win in the first round the candidate needs 142 votes out of 281. Czech Television is going to broadcast Wednesday's session of Czech parliament live from Prague Castle, where all senators and MPs will meet to choose a new head of state.