Long-term political animal Miroslav Kalousek will not run in 2021 lower-house elections

Miroslav Kalousek of the TOP 09 party, who is one of the best known politicians in the Czech Republic and known for his repeated clashes with Prime Minister Andrej Babiš, will not run in the upcoming 2021 elections into the Chamber of Deputies, he said on Czech Television on Sunday.

Mr Kalousek subsequently told news site iDnes.cz that this does not mean he will be retreating from politics altogether, or that he will leave his current party. Instead, he wants to focus on talking to people “on the ground” and try to bring about a joint approach by traditional political parties, Mr Kalousek said.

Mirolsav Kalousek has been a member of the Chamber of Deputies since 1998 and was finance minister from 2007 to 2008 and then again from 2010 to 2013.