TOP 09 head Schwarzenberg dismisses Samková's comments

Prague, Aug 7 (CTK) - The Czech government TOP 09 chairman and the party's presidential candidate, Karel Schwarzenberg, said yesterday he is not bothered with what the party's other presidential candidate, lawyer Klara Samkova, said about him.

Samkova, who announced her candidacy on Sunday, told yesterday's issue of daily Pravo that Schwarzenberg cannot address "the people who feel the impact of the current reality."

Samkova's decision to run for president has been criticised by the TOP 09 leadership, but it did not approve any resolution and it did not even deal with it yesterday.

Schwarzenberg, foreign minister, is the party's official candidate. He did not take part in the meeting because he is on holiday.

Samkova told Pravo that Schwarzenberg has other voters than she, adding that she believes that she can address common people.

"They are people whom Mr Schwarzenberg can never address because he has never been interested in whether margarine costs one crown more," Samkova told the paper.

She also doubted his ability "to move around Gypsy ghettos" like she.

"Ms Samkova does not know anything about my life," Schwarzenberg told CTK.

He added that she has not probably studied his biography.

Schwarzenberg is now on holiday in a spa like in the past years. This year he has taken almost a monht-long holiday to regenerate his forces.

"I am swimming and meeting my friends," he said.

Schwarzenberg is known for his interest in human rigths. When he stayed in exile, he was chairman of the International Helsinki Human Rights Federation in 1985-90. He accommodated in his Bavarian seat in Scheinfeld an archive of literature that was banned in communist Czechoslovakia.

The Czechs will elect their president for the first time in early 2013 when current head of state Vaclav Klaus's second term expires.

Until now Czech presidents have been elected by both houses of parliament.