Members of the Castle Guard marched across the courtyard of Prague Castle at midnight on Sunday, carrying with them the flag of the Czech President. Among those watching the flag being lowered was the president himself - Vaclav Havel left the Castle for the last time on Sunday after 13 years in the post. The flag won't be raised again for weeks - maybe even months - as efforts continue to choose a successor. And with the Czech Republic left without a head of state, the president's powers have been divided between the country's senior officials. My colleague Rob Cameron joins me in the studio now - Rob, exactly how are those powers distributed, and who gets what?
Prague Castle - flag of the Czech President, Photo: CTK
"The Czech Constitution deals quite clearly with this situation; the powers of the president are divided between two people - the prime minister and the chairman of the lower house of parliament. The lion's share of those powers go to the chairman of the lower house: he can appoint and dismiss cabinet ministers, even the entire government if he so wishes. He can also appoint members of the Constitutional Court and the board of the central bank, and on top of that he also has the power to dissolve the lower house of parliament. The prime minister, on the other hand, becomes the commander-in-chief of the Czech armed forces, represents the country abroad, and can also sign international treaties. So on a domestic level at least, the chairman of the lower house of parliament now wields considerable power."
Are there concerns that such power could be abused?
Vaclav Havel, Vladimir Spidla, Lubomir Zaoralek, Photo: CTK
"Such concerns have been expressed, by the opposition - after all both the prime minister - Vladimir Spidla - and the chairman of lower house - Lubomir Zaoralek - are members of the ruling Social Democrats. But, the party has pledged not to abuse that power, saying Constitutional Court judges for instance will not be replaced until their mandate expires. So it's nothing to get too alarmed about, even President Havel himself said before he left office that the fact the Czech Republic had been left without a head of state was not a catastrophe."
So it's very much business as usual then?
"To a great extent yes, though there are some loopholes in the Czech Constitution. As I said earlier, the chairman of the lower house can dissolve parliament, but he can't call new elections. And that would be rather inconvenient in the event of any serious political crisis."
