Czech press survey - March 8

Klaus still has many admirers who will ask him to do so, Biben writes.

However, the Czech right no longer needs Klaus as a politician and its representatives. His chances to become its prominent leader are small, if any, he adds.

The disgust Klaus has caused not only with his amnesty is exceptional, Biben writes.

At the beginning of his presidential term, Klaus promised to unite the nation. He has managed to do so in the least auspicious way, by uniting many people against himself, he adds.

It is not ruled out that after a time, Klaus may start addressing again rightist voters. However, if such a party is to win elections, it would have to attract also centrist voters, Biben writes.

This seems to be impossible with Klaus, he adds.

Outgoing president Vaclav Klaus and his successor Milos Zeman were liberals of the Czech, plebeian type who differed on many things, but they agreed on their opposition to the cult of Saint Wenceslas, Zbynek Petracek writes about Zeman's plan to pay homage to the relics of the Duke of Bohemia and its patron.

However, in recent years, this seemed to have changed. Klaus often visited the Saint Wenceslas pilgrimage in Stara Boleslav, central Bohemia, and Zeman is about to pay respects to Saint Wenceslas's skull, Petracek writes.

Where did the Hussite tradition stay to which both politicians often claim to adhere? he asks.

If the saint's relics are honoured by a politician who has called Saint Wenceslas a symbol of subservience and collaborationism, can his gesture be really authentic? Petracek asks.

It can be hardly said, but this is usual in the case of national rituals, he adds.

Not only Zeman's past, but also his recent statements have warned that when it comes to the abuse of the presidential mandate, he may catch up with his predecessor to say the least, Jiri Leschtina writes in Hospodarske noviny.

There is no secret that Zeman and Klaus are nostalgic for their "opposition agreement," a pact from the late 1990s with which their parties divided power among themselves in the Czech Republic, Leschtina writes.

When recommending a minority government, a sort of another opposition agreement, Zeman may prefer the power arrangement that led to the biggest curtailment of democracy after the 1989 fall of the Communist regime, he adds.

However, Zeman is returning to the politics at the time when the general public and civic society are very sensitive to the power intrigues from the Prague Castle, the seat of Czech heads of state, Leschtina writes.

While the opposition agreement caught the general public rather unprepared, after the experience with Klaus the young generation in particular is able to stage very strong protests, he adds.

This is a fact Zeman must reckon with, Leschtina writes.

Author: ČTK
www.ctk.cz