Prague, April 20 (CTK) – The collecting of the signatures for the presidential candidacy of Czech President Milos Zeman will start on April 24, Zeman told the TV Barrandov commercial television station on Thursday.
Zeman said the election team would be headed by his wife Ivana Zemanova.
She will select other members of the election team.
Zeman is running without the official support by any party. As an independent he has to collect at least 50,000 signatures.
Zeman said his wife would be the first to sign the petition sheet on Monday.
Zeman said earlier he would not lead any personal campaign or declare his programme for another election term.
“Please send all questions about my election campaign to my wife’s address. Ask me about the things relating to domestic or foreign policy,” Zeman said on Thursday.
Candidacies have also been announced by lyricist and businessman Michal Horacek and former head of the Czech Academy of Sciences Jiri Drahos.
Other contenders, whose chances are very small, include doctor and civic activist Marek Hilser, former Public Affairs deputy Otto Chaloupka, businessman Igor Sladek and artist Emil Adamec as well as former head of the office of prime minister Jiri Rusnok Karel Stogl and activist Jana Yngland Hruskova.
The contenders must gather at least 50,000 signatures. In addition, they can be proposed by a group of at least 20 members of the Chamber of Deputies or at least ten senators.
The first round of the presidential race will take place on January 19-20 at the latest. The exact date will be declared by the Senate chairman.
