News

Czech Railways is to seek billions of crowns in funding from public finances to rebuild its aging carriage stock. The news was revealed by the head of Czech Railways Petr Žaluda on Friday, suggesting that an estimated 17 billion crowns (the equivalent of almost 1 billion US dollars) annually was needed. Transport Minister Aleš Řebíček has indicated that there may be opportunity to meet the request. Currently Czech Railways has 1,000 locomotives and 4,000 carriage cars which average 20 years in service. The Transport Minister has made clear that the need to invest in new vehicles to replace aging cars is a priority.

The Czech Republic is leading 3:0 over Belgium in the first round of the Davis Cup in tennis and is advancing to the quarterfinals.

In the first two matches in Ostrava on Friday, both Tomáš Berdych and Radek Štěpánek beat Kristof Vliegen and Steve Darcis, respectively, in three sets. The two Czechs then on Saturday faced the Belgian players Rochus and Vliegen in the double, and won after a five-set battle 6:7, 7:6, 7:5, 5:7 and 6:4, securing the Czech triumph. The 3:0 score means the Czech team advances to the quarterfinals of the Davis Cup irrespective of the results of the two remaining games between the Czech Republic and Belgium.

Two rounds of voting fail in the Czech presidential election failed to produce a new head of state on Friday evening. Neither the incumbent, Václav Klaus, nor his challenger Czech-American economist Jan Švejnar were able to secure majorities in both houses of Parliament in Friday’s joint-session. In the first round, Mr Klaus received a majority in the Senate with 47 senators voting for him, while his challenger won a majority in the Chamber of Deputies. A second round followed shortly afterwards, also proving inconclusive. Both candidates, however, have made it to the third a final round of the election, now set for Saturday.

Lawmakers from both houses of Parliament will reconvene their joint-session at Prague Castle at 10 am to try and elect the new president. Unlike the first two rounds in which a majority in both houses is needed to win, the third pools votes from both the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate.

For most of Friday it appeared it wouldn’t come down to a vote at all: the 281 MPs and senators present failed for hours to agree on an actual voting method, as voting can be either public or secret. The deadlock was finally broken shortly after 8 pm on Friday evening. Civic Democrat legislators first failed to pass a motion proposing the presidential ballot be secret, guaranteeing the public vote.

To recap: lawmakers in the election are choosing between 66-year-old Václav Klaus, who has almost twenty years experience in Czech politics and is seeking a second five-year term. His challenger Jan Švejnar is a US-based economist and relative newcomer to the Czech political scene, although he was an advisor to former president Václav Havel in the 1990s. Reasons for the deadlock on the voting method on Friday may vary, but it was widely considered that a secret ballot would favour incumbent Václav Klaus, while an open ballot might provide his opponent Jan Švejnar with an advantage.