Czech Republic
President Miloš Zeman after his speech to parliament on August 7, 2013

‘A slide towards the Republic of Zeman’

The political crisis that started two months ago with the resignation of conservative Prime Minister Petr Nečas took a new twist on July 7 after the caretaker government of Jiří Rusnok lost a confidence vote in the parliament. For the Czech press, the political game is becoming more and more incomprehensible and self-referential.

Published on 8 August 2013 at 15:07
President Miloš Zeman after his speech to parliament on August 7, 2013

What is certain is that yesterday’s vote, which marks the collapse of the centre-right majority, is a victory for former social democrat Miloš Zeman.

Hospodářské noviny stresses the spectacular failure of the right, which has been unable to outmanoeuvre Zeman and is more divided now than ever, leading the daily to write –

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August 7, 2013 will go down in the annals of Czech politics as one of the crucial dates in the history of the country after 1989, as the day when the Czech right suffered its worst humiliation ever. And that will probably endure for a long time yet. […] The years 2010-2013 were, in a way, rather striking. We have had the privilege of seeing a spectacle where the majority was gradually whittled down from 118 [out of 200], the largest in the history of the country, to the ‘traditional’ [minimum of] 101, until it finally collapsed. What a symbol!

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In MF Dnes, columnist Bohumil Pečinka considers that what began on August 7 is a “new regime”. Pečinka recalls that in his speech before the vote, the president of the republic mentioned doubts about the parliamentary majority and used public opinion polls as arguments to advance his personal policy.

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Whether the government was going to survive or not did not really matter. Most of the politicians have already accepted the fact that the parliamentary majority was not so important. What appears likely is a slide towards the Republic of Zeman.

Lidové noviny is not worried. Recalling that through his political allies, the president already controls the Social Democratic Party (ČSSD), the likely winner in the next election, the Prague daily believes that

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over the long-term, Zeman will not succeed in remoulding the system in the image of [the presidential system of] France. The tradition in central Europe is too strong. To do that, he would have to be a war hero. What will happen will resemble what happened in Poland, where, following an era of strong presidents, parliament has taken back its powers.

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