Prague, Feb 23 (CTK) – Most Czechs continue to support direct election as a method to choose the country’s president, and their support has been growing, according to a public opinion poll the CVVM agency conducted in January and released yesterday.
At present, the direct presidential election is supported by 74 percent of Czechs, which is 10 percent more than two years ago.
People wish the present powers of the president to be preserved, the poll showed.
About 10 percent of the respondents said they would prefer the Czech Republic returning to the system of president being elected by parliament.
Only 8 percent said they would like new presidents to be chosen by a broader assembly of electors.
Czechs presidents were previously elected by the two chambers of parliament. In 2013, Milos Zeman was the first president elected directly by people.
Forty-two percent of those polled said it is unimportant whether a candidate for president is, was nor has never been involved in politics.
About 40 percent said the president should also focus on solving concrete issues, but only exceptionally.
Almost 60 percent said the president should be authorised to interfere in the government’s work, but to a limited extent.
More than 20 percent believe that the president should not interfere with the government’s work at all, while 13 percent said they would transfer the governance onto the president.
Sixty-three percent of Czechs support the current practice of the president appointing ministers based on the recommendation of the prime minister-designate.
Twelve percent said the president should not appoint ministers at all, and 13 percent said he should do so on his own.
A majority of Czechs believe that the president’s foreign policy should correspond to the line set by the government, the poll showed.
Most Czechs are of the view that the present powers of the president should not be changed. This view is espoused by 58 percent of people, while 19 percent would like the powers to be extended and 16 percent want them reduced.
A half of the respondents agrees with the president having the right to independently decide on granting pardons and bestowing state awards.
Thirty-eight percent of those polled said they would make these presidential powers dependent on the consent from another political institution.
A half of the respondents believe that the president should keep the right to veto bills, but that the Chamber of Deputies should have the power to override his veto.
Twenty-nine percent of the respondents said the president should have the right of an absolute veto, that could not be overridden, while 10 percent wish no right to veto for him at all.
rtj/dr/kva
