Czech court prefers election date to rule of law-Okamura

He added that he would wait for the final court verdict on his constitutional campaign and then he would consider further steps.

The US today did not meet his proposal that the presidential polls be adjourned. Its decision also definitively means that Okamura, a candidate who was previously eliminated from the presidential contest, will not participate in it.

The court will keep dealing with Okamura's complaint including his proposal for scrapping some articles in the legislation linked to the direct presidential elections.

Okamura indicated that the court had been under time pressure.

"It has chosen the easier alternative," he added.

Okamura refused to anticipate his further steps, for example, a complaint with the European Court of Human Rights.

He said he would first analyse the US final verdict on his complaint.

Okamura first met the condition of gathering at least 50,000 signatures in support of his candidature. However, the Interior Ministry ruled that the number of signatures was below the limit after invalid ones were subtracted.

Okamura reiterated today that the state had dubiously estimated the number of valid signatures on his petition.

A total of nine candidates are running in the polls whose first round is scheduled for January 11-12 and a possible second round two weeks later.

Okamura noted that he was hesitating whether he would vote in the presidential polls at all after his chance to run was prevented. He did not support any other candidate.

Author: ČTK
www.ctk.cz