Communist party leader reveals long battle with multiple sclerosis

Kateřina Konečná, leader of the Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia (KSČM), has publicly spoken for the first time about living with multiple sclerosis for twenty years. In an interview for Rytmus života she said the diagnosis came at the very start of her political career, when she was first elected to the Czech Parliament. Konečná described her condition as stabilized, but occasionally symptomatic. She went on to serve in the European Parliament and later became party leader. After the party’s defeat in October’s general elections, she offered her resignation. An election party conference will be held in December.