Former chief spycatcher running for president

Prague, Sept 13 (CTK) - Karel Randak, 57,former head of the Czech counter-intelligence, confirmed Thursday that he would like to run for the post of president.

Randak said as a private individual he did not have enough opportunities to combat corruption in the Czech Republic.

Rut Kolinska, 59, founder of the Czech mother centres and winner of the Women of Europe title, also announced her candidacy for head of state Thursday. She started collecting the necessary signatures for her nomination.

Randak said he would discontinue his membership of the board of the anti-corruption fund of businessman Karel Janecek over his presidential candidature.

Randak said along with collecting signatures, he would address independent senators.

"Some findings I have arrived at and tried to present have made me conclude that there is a need to do something with the general mood of corruption, cronyism, nepotism and similar phenomena in our country," Randak said.

He said as a "private individual" he encountered some limits as he could not sufficiently influence the developments in the country, while both he and his family were exposed to pressure due to his activity.

"A president can influence processes going on in the country in media outlets and by his work," he added.

Randak has thus joined the pool of over 20 candidates.

According to the latest polls, former caretaker prime minister Jan Fischer and former Social Democrat prime minister Milos Zeman are having the biggest chances of winning the first direct presidential election in March 2013.

Randak has set up a transparent election account and will launch the web page www.karelrandak.cz. next week.

Randak, 57, was sacked from the post of head of civilian counter-intelligence by the government of Mirek Topolanek (Civic Democratic Party, ODS) in 2006.

Kolinska, another potential presidential candidate, said she would like to offer voters her long-term experience from her work with children and families.

She called on legislators to restore people's trust in politics. "The future of the country rests in citizens' cooperation with political leaders," Kolinska told reporters.

Kolinska, who was asked to run for president by an independent voluntary association, established the Prague Mothers movement at the end of the 1980s. In 1992, she founded the first mother centre in the then Czechoslovakia. Nowadays, there are 300 similar centres all over the country.