No “exotic results” in the first round

First round of presidential elections was held in the Czech Republic on January 11-12, 2013. This was the first direct elections of the president in the Czech Republic. Results of this round of elections refuted predictions suggested by polls and dramatically changed the balance of political forces. Former Prime Minister Jan Fischer was considered a favorite of these elections, but he, unexpectedly for many, did not go through to the second round. On the other hand, as expected, the leader of the presidential race became the left candidate, former Prime Minister Milos Zeman with 24.21 percent of votes. Karel Schwarzenberg, Minister of Foreign Affairs in the right-wing government, came second in the first round. Public polls predicted only the fourth place for him but unexpectedly for his rivals he outran them all and with the result of 23.4 percent of the votes is qualified for the second round of the elections. It should be noted that Karel Schwarzenberg is a minister in the current government, which is rapidly losing its popularity due to some unpopular reforms. Both leaders of the presidential race are elderly people: Milos Zeman is 68 and Karel Schwarzenberg is 75. There were nine candidates in the first round of the elections.

It is quite significant that after Zeman found out about who his opponent in the second round will be said: “Today it is clear that the struggle for the presidency in the Czech Republic will unfold according to the same scenario as it was in France, where candidates from the right-wing and left-wing political forces came together in the decisive round. The choice was between Nicolas Sarkozy and Francois Hollande.”

Schwarzenberg, in his turn, sang the national anthem out of joy after finding out that he was qualified for the second round, and characterized his opponent saying: “Undoubtedly, Milos Zeman is a professional politician and former prime minister. He is a serious opponent. Nevertheless, I believe that he represents the past – late 1990s and early 2000s.”

One of the candidates will take the position of the current President Vaclav Klaus, a conservative who has been in power since 2003. According to experts, his resignation from the presidential post will be welcomed by many in the EU because of Klaus’s skeptical attitude to the idea of European Integration.

Klaus himself has negatively evaluated the results of the presidential election. “These elections were the biggest fiasco in post-communist history that makes me suffer. Of course it was a terrible defeat of the ODS and left largely won. I am sad and I feel that we need to do something about it,” said Klaus. Indeed, candidate for presidency of this right-wing party – Deputy Chairman of the Senate Premysl Sobotka was on the eighth place in the first round.

At the same time, Klaus expressed his satisfaction about the fact that the first round ended without “exotic results.” He also added that both Zeman and Schwarzenberg know what a presidential post means.

One of the candidates was a professor, artist and composer Vladimir Franz, 90 percent of his body is covered with tattoos. He was the most recognizable among nine candidates.

Czech newspaper Pravo published quite an interesting comment on the candidates who were qualified for the second round. According to this newspaper, “Zeman seeks presidential post because he is greedy for power and does it even through non-transparent financing of his election campaign. This also explains why we should expect that the presidency of Zeman will be the continuation of the ruling of the current President Vaclav Klaus, without Klaus in the picture.

On the other hand, Pravo continues: “Schwarzenberg says that he is willing to serve the nation, which is a fabulous kitsch, though not completely empty. Schwarzenberg has great merit for the support of the Czech freedom from many years before 1989 and after, when he was the head of the first post-communist President Vaclav Havel.”

The newspaper also notes that both 68-year-old Zeman and 75-year-old Schwarzenberg are politicians of the older generation, “children of the 1990s.” Pravo wonders: “How is it possible that the Czech political arena in the past 23 years has failed to bring up a young person who deserves such high position of being a president?” According to the newspaper, it can be explained by the fact that Czech political parties are small in size and function based on nepotism rather than competition. And even in the worst circumstances competent people have no reason to go into politics because they do not understand the way Czech political arena works.

Now we can say with certainty that the next president of the Czech Republic will be a “child of the 1990s.” We will find out whether it would be a conservative or a left-wing politician after the second round of presidential elections to be held on January 25-26. We should not exaggerate the role of the position of a president in the Czech Republic, who has little authority. However, by making their choice Czechs will show who they see as an authority in their country.

The Day asked Roman JOCH, Director of the Civic Institute in Prague, to comment on the results of the first round of presidential elections in the Czech Republic.

“Czech citizens chose two completely different personalities for the second round of presidential elections. Milos Zeman represents the left wing, egalitarianism, secularism, socialism, and pro-Eastern European politics. Karel Schwarzenberg represents the right wing, diversity, Christian traditions, personalism, and pro-Western foreign policy. However, both politicians are pro-Israeli and pro-European. Voters will have a real choice to make since even temperaments of both candidates are different.

“Zeman was a prime minister in 1998 through 2002: he is a man of the past, but if elected, he will also be the man of the future. His strongest ally was and still remains the current president of the Czech Republic Vaclav Klaus, who openly supported Zeman.

“What concerns the issue of the relations with the EU, there is no smallest difference in positions of Schwarzenberg and Zeman. However, Zeman, just like Klaus, is friendlier to Russia, while Schwarzenberg is leaning more towards the good relations with the US.

“Klaus really became a symbol of corruption, especially after he granted amnesty to many corrupt businessmen and mega-criminals before the New Year two weeks ago. Thus, the amnesty further strengthened this reputation of Klaus.”