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Opinion
January 12, 2018 www.intellinews.com I Page 19
Zeman quietly rounds up his base in campaign for second term
Seán Hanley in London
Once sedate and dull, Czech politics has recently been serving up non-stop political drama.
First, October’s parliamentary elections dealt
a shattering, but not fatal, blow to established parties.
Then the election winner, the billionaire-politician and fraud indictee, Andrej Babiš struggled to form a government with any of the other eight parties in parliament, opting instead in December to form a minority administration with uncertain pros- pects (it faces a vote of confidence on January 10).
Now creeping up on us after a low-key campaign come the Czech presidential elections, whose first round takes place on 12-13 January.
The relatively low profile of the election is partly down to the incumbent. Having announced in March that he would run for a second term, President Miloš Zeman has opted for a Czech version of a [US] “Rose Garden Strategy” by officially not campaigning, refusing to give pre- election interviews or appear in debates with other candidates; and according to his online campaign account spending pretty much zilch.
The reality is that for many months presidential visits to regions and provincial towns, fielding undemanding questions from generally sympathetic crowds, have served as a surrogate, under-the-radar campaign.
Zeman’s non-campaign now also features expensive-looking billboard and newspaper advertising to elect Zeman Again (Zeman znovu) paid for by the Friends of Miloš Zeman –
a previously dormant civic association founded in 2008 to relaunch Zeman from political retirement.
To some extent, these tactics seems to reflect Ze- man’s state of health. Although rumours of can- cerand other life-threatening conditions has been vig- orously rebutted, the president suffers diabetes and a nerve condition – possibly arising as a complication – affecting his legs which visibly limits his mobility. The president’s alcohol and tobacco consumption have also long been a source of concern to his doctors.
In other ways, however, Zeman’s semi-visible campaign is a shrewd political move. For support- ers Zeman is a flawed, but decent politician, who stands up for the interests of ordinary people out- side the better-off world of Prague and big cities and also sticks up for Czech national interests.
For his many detractors Zeman is a boorish authori- tarian illiberal nationalist and a national embarrass- ment, tarnishing the Czech Republic’s good name. As well as lapses of decorum such as appearing drunk at ceremonial occasion and using the c-word in a radio broadcast, Zeman has shared a platform with fringe anti-Islamic extremists and come out as the only EU head of state to publicly endorse Donald Trump before the US elections in 2016.
More worrying still has been his cavalier attitude to the Czech constitution. His appointment in 2013 of a presidential caretaker government of supposed technocrats over the heads of political parties flouted previous constitutional practice. He has at various times, suggested that, creatively interpreted, the constitution could him allow him