Senate approves direct presidential elections

Prague, Feb 8 (CTK) - The Senate, the upper house of Czech parliament, yesterday passed an amendment to the constitution that introduces direct election of Czech president.

As a result, Vaclav Klaus's successor will be elected by people, not by parliament, in early 2013.

The amendment, which the Chamber of Deputies passed recently, was supported by 49 of 75 senators present.

It will come into force as from October 1, 2012.

Klaus, the incumbent president who previously called the introduction of direct election a fatal mistake, can change nothing about it. Unlike standard laws, constitutional laws or amendments cannot be vetoed by president.

The legislation was supported by senators mainly from the two strongest parties, the senior opposition Social Democrats (CSSD) and the senior ruling Civic Democrats (ODS).

At least 45 votes were necessary for the draft to be passed by the required constitutional (three-fifth) majority of senators.

The direct election's advocates among MPs point out that they promised its introduction before parliamentary elections, that it has been wished by citizens and that it will prevent excesses similar to those accompanying the latest election of president by the two houses of parliament, narrowly won by Klaus.

Critics of the direct election say it would be enough to better specify the rules of the election of president by parliament. However, the parliament has failed to agree on this in the past four years.

For the direct election to take place next year, it is yet necessary to approve detailed election rules that the government has been working on.

Under the new legislation, Czech president will be elected by voters in a way similar to the Senate election, i.e. in two rounds.

A candidate for president will need support from a petition signed by 50,000 eligible voters at least, or from at least 20 deputies or 10 senators.

The direct election will be called by the Senate chairperson 90 days before the election day at the latest.

The CSSD welcomed the result of the Senate's vote yesterday. CSSD deputy chairman Jiri Diensbier stated that it was the Social Democrats whom the government "owes" its draft amendment's success.

The draft was supported by only 11 of the 21 ODS senators present, but by as many as 36 of the 39 CSSD senators, Dienstbier pointed out.

All senators for the Christian Democratic Union (KDU-CSL) and many senators from other groups voted against the draft.

The constitutional amendment adds new reasons for a president's dismissal. He/she could be unseated if the Constitutional Court (US) decided that he/she grossly violated the constitution. Three-fifths of the senators would have to support the relevant constitutional complaint and three-fifths of the deputies would have to nod to it.

The present constitution enables only the Senate to sue a president for treason.

Critics say the new provision weakens the Senate's position and makes a president's dismissal more difficult.

The new law limits a president's immunity to the period of the presidential mandate.

It restricts the president's power to grant pardons by ordering that criminal proceedings not be launched or that it be halted. These decisions newly need to be countersigned by the prime minister or another cabinet minister empowered by the prime minister.

Most parties in parliament have not presented their candidates for president so far. The only one to officially field a candidate is the junior ruling TOP 09 that has nominated its chairman, Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg.

In the ODS, the names of Chamber of Deputies head Miroslava Nemcova and Senate deputy chairman Premysl Sobotka have been mentioned most often, the CSSD may propose unaffiliated liberal economist Jan Svejnar, who unsuccessfully ran against Klaus in the 2008 presidential election, and the KDU-CSL speaks about its MEP Zuzana Roithova.

Aside parties in parliament, interest in presidential candidacy has been unofficially shown by former prime ministers Milos Zeman (1998-2002) and Jan Fischer (2009-2010). The latter has been described as a potential favourite by the media, as has been entrepreneur Tomio Okamura.