(Angus Reid Global Monitor) – People in the Czech Republic are split over who would be the best head of state for their country, according to a poll by STEM. 52 per cent of respondents would back economist Jan Svejnar if they could cast a ballot, while 48 per cent would vote for current president Vaclav Klaus.
(Angus Reid Global Monitor) – People in the Czech Republic are split over who would be the best head of state for their country, according to a poll by STEM. 52 per cent of respondents would back economist Jan Svejnar if they could cast a ballot, while 48 per cent would vote for current president Vaclav Klaus.
In the Czech Republic, the president is elected by Parliament to a five-year term. The Czech president can return bills to lawmakers and grant pardons to convicted criminals, and also serves as the commander in chief of the armed forces. According to existing regulations, Czech heads of state can serve for a maximum of two consecutive five-year terms.
Klaus—a prominent neo-liberal politician—has served as the European country’s head of state since March 2003, but he briefly held the office in 1993, when Czechoslovakia was separated into two countries. The member of the Civic Democratic Party (ODS) also served as prime minister from July 1992 to December 1997. In November 2007, the ODS officially nominated Klaus as its presidential candidate for 2008.
Svejnar’s candidacy is supported by the opposition Czech Social Democratic Party (CSSD), whose members have decried Klaus’ views on global warming. Svejnar has spent most of his life in the United States, first as a student at Cornell and Princeton, and later as a professor at the University of Michigan.
On Jan. 13, Jiri Dolejs, deputy chairman of the junior opposition Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia (KSCM), said that his party will vote against Klaus’s re-election but is still not sure whether it will support Svejnar’s bid, declaring, "In any case we wish that the series of the ODS’s election victories be discontinued now. This means no ODS candidate at Prague Castle, this is our priority. However, we must simply continue discussing whether Jan Svejnar should be the instrument for us to achieve this."
Czech lawmakers will elect the country’s president on Feb. 8.
Polling Data
If you were a member of the Czech Parliament, which of these two candidates would you vote for in the presidential election?
|
Jan Svejnar |
52% |
|
Vaclav Klaus |
48% |
Source: STEM
Methodology: Interviews with 1,362 Czech voters, conducted from Jan. 2 to Jan. 8, 2008. Margin of error is 2.5 per cent.
