MfD: Zeman overtaking Fischer due to better campaign

Prague, Jan 7 (CTK) - Czech presidential candidate Milos Zeman has overtaken Jan Fischer in the presidential race because his campaign is better, commentator Martin Komarek writes in Mlada fronta Dnes (MfD) Monday.

The latest poll has shown that Zeman, prime minister in 1998-2002 and former Social Democrat (CSSD) chairman, would gain 25.1 percent of the vote and Fischer, who headed a caretaker cabinet in 2009-2010, would be supported by 20.1 percent.

Previously, Fischer was leading in the presidential race with a substantial margin.

Why has this changed? Komarek asks.

The answer is simple: Zeman has a much better campaign and he has been more convincing in public debates, Komarek writes.

Zeman has been able to present himself as a clear candidate of the left and the center-left, he adds.

Fischer wants to be a candidate of all, but not everyone trusts him in this, Komarek writes.

So far, Fischer has not found the form with which to sell his assets, namely that, compared with Zeman, he is much more ethical, mundane and is not part of the political establishment of the past years that the public dislikes, he adds.

When thumping the table, Fischer is somewhat similar to the mouse that roars, Komarek writes.

On the other hand, Zeman is able to enforce to the public the impression that he is not any party shady manipulator, he adds.

He is painting the picture of a statesman arisen from the revolutionary years of 1968 and 1989 who will be the real father of the nation, Komarek writes.

He claims to be at the same time manly, experienced and humane, he adds.

When it comes to the rest of the candidates, eccentric composer and artist Vladimir Franz, who is tattooed from head to toe, and Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg in the third and fourth places are enjoying quite a good support, Komarek writes.

Taken together, they would receive more votes than Fischer, he adds.

However, Schwarzenberg is the favourite of the conservative right, while Franz collects the votes of those who are against the current establishment, Komarek writes.

Schwarzenberg might try to win them over, provided he did not run for TOP 09, the party of hated niggard Finance Minister Miroslav Kalousek, he adds.

However, the evaluation is wrong. Schwarzenberg is a party candidate and real politician like Zeman, but with his personal qualities and his past merits he is much better than the leading tandem, Komarek writes.

In the campaign, he has displayed dignity and modesty along with the sense of humour, he adds.

Moreover, Schwarzenberg has shown that if elected, with the values he embraces he would be more loyal to the nation than to his party, Komarek writes.

As far as Fischer and Zeman are concerned, they may be loyal rather to themselves and their image in history, he adds.

However, this changes nothing in their being much better than outgoing President Vaclav Klaus who turned into his own, outdated caricature in the final stage of his presidency, Komarek writes.

All of the first four candidates have some defects. Zeman is too much tainted with party politics, Fischer was in the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (KSC) in the 1980s, Schwarzenberg is a party candidate and is rather old and Franz is too extravagant, he adds.

It should be stressed that the voters have their first chance of installing the "best" to the post of president, Komarek writes.

The January 11-12 election will be the first direct presidential vote. Previous presidents were elected by the parliament.