Czech press survey - January 8

Both candidates should not sleep quietly these days since no elections in the Czech Republic have turned out as the polls predicted, Honzejk recalls.

The effort to determine the results of any polls in the country has been a big fiasco. Why should it be different now, in he case of presidential election? Honzejk asks.

Czech polling agencies forecast election results wrongly for three reasons. First they are "professionally weak," second they are suspected of manipulating the results at their clients´ request and third Czech voters do not behave traditionally. They often dramatically change their opinion at the very last moment, Honzejk points out.

He anticipates that in the forthcoming presidential election "the strongest and the weakest will lose and the centre will gain profit."

"In view of the fact that 10 percent of voters are still undecided, Fischer and Zeman do not face a leisure weekend. The first round will be close," Honzejk writes in conclusion in HN.

The approach of Czech television channels to presidential candidates is discriminatory as they have selected the two most popular ones for a TV duel, though polls that fancy their chances may be unreliable, Daniel Kaiser writes in the daily Lidove noviny (LN) today.

He admits that the TV channels´ stance is understandable since it would be a mass if all nine candidates were sitting together in a studio.

Kaiser wonders how the public Czech Television (CT) will deal with the problem. Commercial channels cannot be blamed for choosing the most attractive programme format, he adds.

Another question is whether the polls, marking former PMs Milos Zeman and Jan Fischer clear election favourites, are reliable. Experience from several previous elections in the Czech Republic unfortunately shows that opinion polls cannot be trusted, Kaiser says.

The situation after the direct Czech presidential election will be definitely worse than now, no matter what its result is, Milan Vodicka writes in Mlada fronta Dnes (MfD) today.

He says it will be particularly worse for him. He will lose a source of entertainment as he feels amused by the naivety with which people desire to elect their "king" as well as by the impudence of "the political aristocracy" with which they claim it would be better to let the election up to them.

It is touching and at the same time disturbing to see that people still believe that "one change in the throne will suffice for better times to come," Vodicka says.

However, the most important aspect is shy people actually want a direct presidential election. Citizens mind being only "sheep" in politicians hands, they see a non-functioning state and incapable elites, sometimes capable of criminal activities only, Vodicka writes.

The government is trusted merely by 13 percent of citizens, which is serious, he notes.

Under such circumstances a direct presidential election gives people at least an illusion that they "can hold the helm though they cannot turn the ship," Vodicka points out.

It will turn out eventually that nothing will change anyway as nothing can change. That´s how it is, he concludes in MfD.

Author: ČTK
www.ctk.cz