Fromer Greens head Bursík elections leader in north Bohemia

Most, North Bohemia, Feb 7 (CTK) - Martin Bursik, former Czech Greens Party (SZ) head and former Environment Minister, will be SZ leader in the north Bohemian Usti Region for the May general election, he told CTK Sunday.

He was chosen by the party's regional conference in Most.

Bursik, 50, wrote to CTK that he wants "to stop plans to pull down north Bohemian villages over coal mining and burning.

He wrote that all further projects that would irreversibly destroy the landscape must be stopped.

Bursik wrote he is returning to top politics because he does not want society to be controlled by the money of coal and electric power companies.

Bursik left the party leadership after the party's failure in the European Parliament elections last year.

He wrote he will be leading his campaign symbolically from Horni Jiretin, a municipality threatened by coal mining plans.

Bursik wrote he also bases his programme on the struggle against corruption and moral decline in society.

"I can no longer be looking on how public money is being stolen," he wrote.

He accused the directors of state and municipal firms of behaving like "Russian bosses" and mediating public orders for their friends.

Bursik wrote he left the post too soon. Current chairman Ondrej Liska, 32, former education minister, is not "sufficiently experienced, distinct and firm," Bursik wrote.

The Greens got to the Chamber of Deputies in 2006 for the first time, winning six mandates that they turned into four ministerial posts in the former centre-right government of Mirek Topolanek (Civic Democrats, ODS).

Since 2006 two members of the SZ deputy group have left it.