Czech press survey - January 28

With Zeman, Czech voters opened the presidential seat to his grey-red suite and its dirty methods that had been used in the 1990s, Dalibor Balsinek says in Lidove noviny (LN), referring to the time when Zeman was a prime minister surrounded by suspicious figures like grey eminence Miroslav Slouf.

The presidential election showed that neither of the two candidates was acceptable for many voters who refused to accept the pragmatical principle of choosing the lesser evil, Balsinek writes in connection with two-fifths of Czechs who did not cast their votes.

Zeman cannot be expected to be a head of state focusing mostly on his ceremonial duties. Former PM Zeman has been waiting for his return for a long time and he will fully use the power he has won, Balsinek indicates.

Schwarzenberg received many protest votes and a lot of people supported him mainly because they did not want Zeman to be elected president, Petr Kambersky writes in Hospodarske noviny (HN).

Schwarzenberg´s supporters do not form a firm group of pro-European voters, a coalition of "truth and love" (i.e. the Vaclav Havel´s legacy) or a camp of promoters of conservative values, Kambersky says.

The main motive of those backing Schwarzenberg was opposition to Zeman and the people around Zeman, Kambersky writes.

Zeman won thanks to an odd alliance of the Communists (KSCM), the right-wing camp loyal to outgoing President Vaclav Klaus, including the D.O.S.T. clerical and nationalist sect, and a part of the Social Democrats (CSSD), part of whom did not vote for their candidate in the first round, Jiri Hanak says in Pravo.

A big part of CSSD supporters preferred Zeman to the party´s official candidate Jiri Dienstbier Jr in the first round.

This alliance is nothing Zeman can be proud of, Hanak writes.

Zeman has won also thanks to his election campaign full of unfair statements, primitive lies and xenophobic calls accusing his rival of not being a real patriot, Hanak says.

Schwarzenberg and his team made many mistakes in the campaign in the runoff election, Karel Steigerwald writes in Mlada fronta Dnes (MfD).

Schwarzenberg should not have opened the issue of the postwar transfer of Sudeten Germans, which can be easily misused and is hard to explain, Steigerwald says.

He says Schwarzenberg should have reacted to Zeman´s untrue attacks more strongly and he should have presented an attractive vision to Czechs.

Schwarzenberg also seemed tired in the campaign, while Zeman was gaining more and more energy, Steigerwald writes.

Author: ČTK
www.ctk.cz