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The Christian Democratic Party is not decided on whether to back President Václav Klaus or his rival, the Czech born, US-based economist Jan Švejnar in the presidential election in February. Mr Klaus met with Christian Democratic Senators on Tuesday to discuss his bid. He said afterwards that he hoped to gain at least some of the eleven senators’ votes. President Klaus also expressed himself in support of a secret, rather than a public ballot.

Czech legislators across the broad political spectrum should accept the latest proposal for a property settlement between the state and the church, presidential candidate Jan Švejnar said at a press conference on Monday, after discussing the proposal with Cardinal Miloslav Vlk. Government and church representatives agreed in December on a plan for a settlement between the state and the church, whose property was confiscated during the communist regime. Under the agreement the state is to pay 83 billion crowns to churches over a period of 60 years. The state’s obligation to provide financial support to churches would then be abolished.

The Communist Party will most probably back the Czech born, US-based economist Jan Švejnar in the first round of presidential election on February 8. According to the deputy chairman Jiří Dolejš, the Communist Party is not left with any other alternative but to support Mr Švejnar, if it doesn’t want to allow only one candidate to advance to the second round. The party hasn’t made any recommendations concerning the second and third rounds.

The Office of the President remains the most trustworthy public institution in the Czech Republic, eliciting the trust of 66 percent of Czechs, according to a poll conducted by the CVVM agency last December. In comparison, the Czech government was trusted by 27 percent of citizens. Parliament elicited the lowest public trust with only 21 percent of respondents considering the Chamber of Deputies trustworthy and 25 percent trusting the Senate.