Presidential candidate Dlouhý not for KSČM-backed gov't

Prague, June 26 (CTK) - Czech economist Vladimir Dlouhy would not appoint a government relying on the Communists (KSCM) if he were president, he told journalists when presenting his vision with which he will be seeking the presidential office.

Czechs will be choosing their president by themselves for the first time early next year when the second and last possible term of current President Vaclav Klaus expires. Until now the presidents were chosen by the two houses of parliament.

Dlouhy said he would like to help promote Czechs' self-confidence and accelerate the growth of living standards.

He said he is opposed to the Czech Republic entering the current euro zone.

"The clear answer is: I would not appoint it," Dlouhy said when asked whether he would appoint a government comprising Communists, or possibly leaning on their votes.

Dlouhy, 58, was a member of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia before the communist regime fell in late 1989.

Dlouhy recalled the example of Austria where the nationalist Freedom Party joined the government 12 years ago, which strongly weakened it.

"I sometimes tell myself whether this is a way [for Czechs to follow], but I would not want to undertake it," he said.

Dlouhy, minister of industry and trade for the former right-wing Civic Democratic Alliance (ODA) in Klaus's government in the 1990s among other government posts, said sponsors have contributed more than four million crowns to his presidential campaign.

He has got two million crowns from each Vladimir Kovar, Unicorn owner and director general, and BGS Energy Plus company that is active in power renewables.

Dlouhy has only started to collect the 50,000 signatures required for the direct presidential election.

Dlouhy, whose name means "long" in English, said he will start on August 6 a "Long run" across the country from Moravia to western Bohemia.

"It will be a signature collecting campaign accompanied by weekend events," Dlouhy said.

Other probable presidential candidates are former caretaker prime minister Jan Fischer who has been leading preferences polls, opposition Social Democrat (CSSD) deputy chairman Jiri Dienstbier, TOP 09 and Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg, former prime minister and CSSD head Milos Zeman (Party of Citizens' Rights of Milos Zeman, SPOZ), Klaus's secretary Ladislav Jakl and Sovereignty party chairwoman Jana Bobosikova.

($1=20.669 crowns)