No party promotion possible in Czech presidential office - Zeman

Mynar recently said he wants to use his work of Presidential Office head to the benefit of the SPOZ, the paper writes.

Until now, Presidential Office heads were not members of a political party.

The extra-parliamentary SPOZ would like to enter parliament after the mid-2014 general election. Zeman, former Social Democrat (CSSD) prime minister, is SPOZ honorary chairman.

"It is by no means possible that the post of office head can be used for political promotion of any political party," Zeman told Pravo.

Zeman said he has nothing against Mynar being a rank-and-file member of the SPOZ.

He added that Hynek Kmonicek, future head of the Presidential Office foreign affairs section, is a rank-and-file member of the CSSD.

Mynar said he would not be defending the post of SPOZ leader.

Zeman told the paper he talked with Mynar about the issue.

He said the work of his office head is of administrative and managerial type and in fact cannot be used to help any political party.

Zeman also said the petition labelling his inauguration address an attack against freedom of speech is an attack against his own freedom of speech.

He told the paper he did not receive the petition and did not know who signed it.

The petition criticises the part of the inauguration address in which Zeman said he would fight "islands of negative deviation." Apart from neo-Nazis commandos and Godfather-like mafias, Zeman mentioned a substantial part of media that focuses on brainwashing.

The petition calls on top Czech politicians to take a clear stance on them. It was signed by writers Ivan Klima and Jachym Topol, press commentator Bohumil Dolezal and sociologist Jirina Siklova, among others.

Author: ČTK
www.ctk.cz