Czech press survey - January 14

The biggest surprise of the first round of the Czech presidential election is the fact that the candidate of the senior government Civic Democratic Party (ODS), Premysl Sobotka, won only 2.46 percent and ended last but one, Dalibor Balsinek says in daily Lidove noviny (LN).

It is not so surprising that former caretaker cabinet head Jan Fischer (unaffiliated), who was considered one of the two favourites along with Zeman for a long time, has not advanced to the second round and ended third, closely followed by Jiri Dienstbier (Social Democrats, CSSD), Balsinek writes.

Fischer had no special voter core, he made only general statements on politics during his campaign and he failed when he was under pressure. His presentations in election debates were nervous and his strong media and financial support played against him, Balsinek says.

If there is a loser of the presidential election, it is political parties and especially the Civic Democrats and their candidate Premysl Sobotka, Martin Weiss writes elsewhere in Lidove noviny.

Weiss recalls that ODS leader and Prime Minister Petr Necas officially announced Sobotka´s candidature for president at the military airport at Prague-Kbely, from which the country´s representatives often fly abroad.

Can there be a more awkward place for such an announcement? Weiss asks.

Sobotka is a victim of the direct election. He was a long-standing chairman of the Senate and he planned to run in the indirect election for a long time. When the direct election was agreed on, Sobotka could not withdraw his candidacy anymore, Weiss says.

The opposition Social Democrats had no other choice than to support Zeman in the second round at least indirectly as they call for the toppling of the Necas´s government and Schwarzenberg is the first deputy prime minister of this government, Jiri Hanak writes in Pravo.

Zeman is a former leader of the CSSD. The Social Democrats had their own candidate, senator Dienstbier Jr, who won over 16 percent of the vote and ended fourth in the election´s first round.

Hanak says Zeman has succeeded in convincing at least a part of the leftist voters that he represents them, although it is not true.

If Zeman represents anybody, it is merely himself, Hanak writes.

The first round of the presidential election showed that the results of opinion polls held before elections may be misleading, Adam Cerny writes in Hospodarske noviny (HN).

The election results show another thing: the next head of the Czech state will have markedly different stances on the European Union than outgoing President Vaclav Klaus, Cerny says.

The only promoter of Eurosceptic views, Jana Bobosikova (Sovereignty), ended in the last position, he notes.

However, foreign policy and EU affairs played no major role in the Czech presidential election, Cerny writes.

Czech citizens showed that they can make a good choice when there is a serious decision to be made, Robert Casensky says in Mlada fronta Dnes (MfD) in relation to the 1st round of the presidential election.

A grey candidate, whose main asset is that nobody is strongly against him, has not succeeded, which is good, Casensky writes, referring to Fischer.

Both Zeman and Schwarzenberg are strong personalities and experienced politicians. Vaclav Havel and Vaclav Klaus definitely will not be succeeded by a grey mouse, Casensky concludes.

Author: ČTK
www.ctk.cz