HN: Schwarzenberg should know presidential rival's scandals

Prague, Jan 21 (CTK) - Why the team of Czech presidential candidate Karel Schwarzenberg has not thoroughly instructed him about the scandals of his rival Milos Zeman due to which he is unable to explain them in live broadcasts is beyond comprehension, Petr Honzejk writes in Hospodarske noviny Monday.

Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Karel Schwarzenberg, TOP 09 chairman, will face former Czech Social Democrat (CSSD) prime minister Milos Zeman (now Party of Citizens' Rights, SPOZ), in the first direct presidential election run-off on January 25-26.

Honzejk recalls that Schwarzenberg said in a televised debate that the weak point of direct democracy rests in that the voters never answer the questions they are asked.

Unfortunately, this is also true in the current presidential election, Honzejk writes.

Voters will probably answer a question that Zeman has forced to them: "Is it admissible that someone who has a 'German wife' and defends the Sudeten Germans be sitting at Prague Castle?" Honzejk writes.

Only God knows what made Schwarzenberg say that post-war Czechoslovak president Edvard Benes would end up before the international criminal tribunal in The Hague for the transfer of Sudeten Germans.

However much true this may be, it is an entirely ill-considered and unnecessary sentence that can only lead to a defeat because Schwarzenberg will now be only explaining it and have time for nothing else until the end of the election campaign.

Benes, then Czechoslovak president, after World War Two signed decrees that provided for the confiscation of the property of collaborators, traitors, ethnic Germans and Hungarians, except for those who themselves suffered under the Nazis. They also formed a basis for the transfer of the two ethnic groups from Czechoslovakia after the war.

If Schwarzenberg had made at least a little bit more effort, an utterly different question could have been asked in the second round of the presidential election, Honzejk writes.

"Is it admissible that a person who is surrounded by more dirt than any other Czech politician be sitting at [the presidential seat] Prague Castle?" this is the question that should be asked, Honzejk writes.

Zeman's bad reputation derives from the time of the opposition agreement that he and then Civic Democratic Party (ODS) chairman Vaclav Klaus signed in 1998.

Under the agreement, the ODS supported the Zeman's minority government in exchange for a portion of influence. Many say big corruption cases started precisely at that time.

Prince Schwarzenberg and his team have rested on their non-existent laurels, however, Honzejk writes.

Schwarzenberg's people have got use to that "Karel," as they refer to him, does not need any programme or professional campaign because his pleasing existence alone is the programme as well as the campaign, Honzejk writes.

However, what is sufficient for 18 percent in a general election or for 25 percent in the first round of the presidential election, is not sufficient when an absolute majority of voters is needed, Honzejk writes.

He says tennis players or cyclists could talk about the difference between a top-level athlete and the one who reaches up to the very summit.

This requires not only talent, but also maximal effort, a perfectly operating team and luck that sometimes also rests in that one does not let himself/herself be caught doping.

Schwarzenberg has no other choice four days ahead of the election but to rise from the ground to which he himself fell by his own doing, and perform such a finish that even Zeman will forget what he wanted to ask the voters, Honzejk writes.

He adds, however, this is rather a too optimistic idea.