Pavel Bem elected a new mayor of Prague

39 year old Pavel Bem was elected as Prague's new mayor on Thursday. In a secret ballot he received 38 out of 70 votes and became the 6th mayor of Prague since the collapse of Communism in 1989. Alena Skodova has this profile of him:

Pavel Bem elected a new mayor of Prague

Pavel Bem, Photo: CTK

Immediately after the election Pavel Bem told the press that first of all he wanted to concentrate on improving the work of the town hall, and open it fully to people. Mr Bem also promised that Prague Town Hall would work more effectively, although he assured its present employees that there won't be any mass layoffs. The third priority of the new mayor is repairing the damage after devastating floods in the summer, which badly affected Prague.

Pavel Bem is a member of the opposition Civic Democratic Party, ODS, and on Thursday he made it clear that he was not going to run for the post of party chairman, soon to be vacated by the party's founding father Vaclav Klaus. Mr Bem expects he will be too busy running the city to lead a party at the same time. However, he is prepared to fight for a position in the ODS leadership - and is considering standing for the post of vice-chairman.

Within his party Pavel Bem is considered a representative of its liberal wing. But he is above all a respected expert on drugs. After graduation at the Faculty of Medicine of Charles University in Prague, Pavel Bem spent several years in post-graduate studies in the United States, specializing in psychiatry. He used to work with drug addicts, and for three years he headed the government's anti-drug commission.

Pavel Bem, who was previously mayor of Prague 6, is married and has two sons. When asked if he will move to the posh mayor's residence in the centre of Prague, he said he had not considered the possibility for a single minute.