Prague, Aug 27 (CTK) – The forming of a coalition government of the ANO movement and the Social Democrats (CSSD) would be an optimal combination after the Czech October 20-21 general election on the unsatisfactory current political scene, President Milos Zeman has told Blesk.cz server.
Zeman criticised Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka (CSSD) for having used foreign media to lash out at him.
Sobotka, who has had sharp disputes with Zeman, recently told the Austrian daily Die Presse that he believes that Zeman will no longer be Czech president after the presidential election due in January and that political culture at Prague Castle, the presidential seat, will change.
Commenting on the October general election, Zeman said the winning party will choose its coalition partner and he, the president, has no right to force his personal opinion upon anybody but can only make recommendations.
“My personal opinion is that an optimal combination on the unsatisfactory political scene would be a coalition of ANO and the CSSD. We will see whether this will come true,” Zeman said.
ANO, led by billionaire Andrej Babis, is the front-runner in party popularity polls and an election favourite, followed by the CSSD. The two parties have been partners in the centre-left government since 2014, but they have been the biggest election rivals at the same time.
Zeman previously repeatedly backed ANO and Babis on various occasions, last time in connection with the police request for parliament to release Babis, an MP, for prosecution over a suspected subsidy fraud involving his Capi hnizdo (Stork Nest) farm and congress complex.
Simultaneously, Zeman has repeatedly rudely lashed out at the CSSD, of which he was chairman in 1993-2001, was prime minister for it in 1998-2002 but fell out with it in the mid-2000s.
In reaction to Sobotka’s critical comments on him for Die Presse, Zeman said he, in his capacity as president, has never “sunk as low” as to criticise the Czech prime minister in an interview for a foreign newspaper.
“I think domestic discords should be settled at home,” Zeman said.
He said he considers Sobotka a poor prime minister, while Sobotka considers him a poor president. It is the voters who will decide on the dispute, he added.
Zeman is the first Czech president whom people chose in a direct election. In January, he wants to seek re-election for another five-year term.
rtj/dr
