Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100Sat, 25 Jul 2026 19:39:43 +0200https://english.radio.cz/direct-presidential-election-passed-further-debate-lower-house-8560327© 2026 Radio Prague InternationalA government proposal seeking direct, popular election of the Czech president made it through the lower house of Parliament on Tuesday – a significant success for an idea that lawmakers have dealt with eight times already. Nevertheless, while the coalition and the opposition may have reached a rare consensus for the time being, any such change to the constitution remains fraught by the fact that each party envisions very different conditions for popular elections, and many pundits and political scientists see the popular issue as a non-starter. Professor Jiří Pehe of New York University, for one, tells me the prospect of direct presidential elections is science fiction. I asked him why.encr@radio.cz (Cesky Rozhlas)webmaster@radio.cz (CRo Webmaster) https://english.radio.cz/sites/default/files/images/urna7.jpg?timestamp=1591294024 https://english.radio.cz/direct-presidential-election-passed-further-debate-lower-house-8560327 Radio Prague International Radio Prague International radio.prague.int@gmail.com clean 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9