CZECH REPUBLIC: Communists Could Turn Kingmakers

By Zoltán Dujisin Reprint | | Print |

Zoltán Dujisin

PRAGUE, Feb 4 2008 (IPS) - Czech President Vaclav Klaus, known for his sceptical remarks on EU integration and human-induced climate change, will seek re-election in a presidential vote that may be decided by the communists.

The incumbent 66-year-old was nominated by the right-wing majority governing Civic Democrats (ODS), of which he is honorary chairman. He promises continuity and stability.

The rival for the post is the liberal economist Jan Svejnar, a Czech-U.S. citizen aged 55 who until recently was only known for providing expert opinions to the media. He claims he will bring a fresh breeze of air to Czech politics.

The public is evenly split, but the election is indirect, and will be decided in the Senate and Parliament, where Klaus’s prospects look brighter due to his party’s strong position in both chambers.

The secret vote is to be held Feb. 8 and could require three voting rounds.

The presidency of the Czech Republic is not as symbolic as officially suggested, Zdenek Zboril, a Czech political commentator and historian, explained to IPS.

“He has relatively great possibilities to interfere with the policy of many institutions, such as the senate, parliament, or the national bank, and he can also influence decisions in foreign policy,” Zboril told IPS.

“But this opportunity comes only in the short periods of political crisis or change,” Zboril adds. “The president has fairly strong powers in the moment after elections when it is impossible to create coalition governments, in matters of dissolving parliament, or during constitutional or economic crisis.”

Svejnar was proposed by the junior governing Green Party. The Greens cannot come to terms with Klaus’s views on climate change, which the President claims is not caused by human activity, and by his scepticism towards EU integration.

The Christian Democrats remain split on who to support, but they are said to be leaning towards Klaus.

The main opposition party Social-Democrats (CSSD) has failed to come up with a left-wing candidate, and in spite of ideological differences with Svejnar, the party’s caucus has decided to back him.

“To prevent Klaus’s re-election is the priority,” CSSD chairman Jiri Paroubek said, justifying his party’s choice.

The presidential contender also has the support of former president and famous dissident Vaclav Havel.

Yet the last word may belong to representatives of the Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia (KSCM), which in the last legislative elections won 13 percent of the vote.

So far the KSCM leadership, aware of both contenders’ eagerness to earn their votes, has said none of the candidates is to their liking, and are keeping the suspense while gaining visibility for a party usually ignored in media and political circles.

In exchange for their support, the communists want the winner to put an end to a long-held taboo in Czech politics: tolerating a cabinet supported by the KSCM.

All parties across the political landscape have refused to politically engage with the successor of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, even at the expense of failing to form a governing coalition following legislative elections.

The party’s refusal to clearly condemn the former Czechoslovak socialist regime and reform itself into a socialist political force in the vein of most former communist parties in Europe is the main motive behind their isolation.

However, Klaus won their support already in the 2003 presidential election, and the party’s institutional influence grew. The communists now want more, but both candidates have declared they would refuse to ever appoint a government supported by the KSCM.

Nonetheless, Svejnar says he would drop his prejudices towards the communists if they clearly condemned the pre-1989 regime, exclude the possibility of overturning the present regime, and improve their attitude towards the EU and NATO.

The presidential contender has admitted he hopes the communists will see him as “the lesser evil”, by presenting himself as a socially sensitive economist in contrast to Klaus’s radical pro-market rhetoric.

Svejnar, while also a firm believer in market economics, argues for progressive taxation and opposes relief for high-income groups.

But the candidate’s broken Czech and his U.S. passport has been a handicap for him, even if he promises giving up U.S. citizenship once elected.

Many at the KSCM appreciate Klaus’s patriotism as opposed to Svejnar’s cosmopolitan outlook.

Whereas Klaus lived and worked in Czechoslovakia under the communist regime, Svejnar is among those who fled West during the 1970s, after Soviet authorities cracked down on domestic reforms.

The communists have also speculated that they may not support any of the contenders, and bring forward their own candidate in the second round.

The contenders’ divergent approaches to EU integration might also be considered by individual deputies and senators, who will choose between the pro-EU Svejnar and the Eurosceptic Klaus. Politicians concerned over the upcoming Czech EU presidency in 2009 could favour Svejnar.

The two contenders also disagree on the adoption of the European common currency, for which Klaus is in no hurry, and homosexual partnerships, which Svejnar would tolerate.