Prague, Jan 21 (CTK) – The Czech democratic left, particularly that part of it that stands closer to the centre, now faces the decision on whether it wants to assume responsibility for its own fate, Erik Tabery writes in weekly Respekt out Monday.
He writes that three out of six deputy chairpersons of the senior opposition Social Democrats (CSSD), Marie Benesova, Michal Hasek and Zdenek Skromach, are more loyal to the uncontrolled missile Milos Zeman, former CSSD prime minister, chairman and member, now honorary chairman of the Party of Citizens’ Rights (SPOZ), than to their own chairman Bohuslav Sobotka.
If Zeman were elected Czech president in the first direct election run-off on January 25-26, in which he competes with Foreign Minister and TOP 09 head Karel Schwarzenberg, he will attack all with whom he has unsettled accounts.
They are people who did not follow the party’s stand and did not support him in the 2002 presidential election, when Vaclav Klaus won, starting with Sobotka and deputy chairman Lubomir Zaoralek and ending with deputy chairman Jiri Dienstbier, Tabery writes.
He writes that an intra-party fratricidal struggle is not good for a party that will probably soon assume power in the country [in the mid-2014 general election].
Tabery writes that the current endless squabbling of the centre-right government coalition has been slowing down the development of Czech society for which it otherwise has excellent conditions and an internal potential, Tabery writes.
He writes that the first presidential election round reminded the CSSD of the uneasy situation in which it has lived for a relatively long time.
It is elected by about 16 percent of liberal voters while about the same percentage of voters are strongly conservative, standing closer to the communists, Tabery writes.
He writes that the former cast their votes in the first presidential round for Dienstbier, while the latter joined KSCM followers and voted for Zeman.
The differences are not visible when the party is in opposition, but as soon as a decision is to be made, a problem arises, which is what happened in the presidential election. What is the party to do not to disappoint neither wing?, Tabery writes and adds that no good answer exists.
Tabery says not few supporters as well as opponents of the left have appreciated the performance and behaviour of Dienstbier who failed to advance to the second round of the presidential election. He came fourth with 16.12 percent of the vote.
Dienstbier was decent and distinctive during the campaign and he showed no pique, uttered no invectives and did not seek any culprits of his defeat, Tabery writes.
Besides, he said overtly he will not vote Zeman though he will go to the polls in the second round, Tabery writes.
He writes that Dienstbier showed a gracious and most political procedure which the Czech political scene is still lacking.
However, he could register for a second time within a short period that he is improving the image of a party that does not deserve it much, Tabery writes.
After his success in the Prague regional election in the autumn 2010, he was pushed aside not to stand in the way of further politicking of the grand coalition of the CSSD and the Civic Democrats (ODS) at the Prague City Hall, Tabery writes.
After the first presidential election round, no one heeded his opinions and in spite of them, yet actually also in his name, the CSSD leadership supported Zeman in the second election round, Tabery writes.
Dienstbier, in his capacity as CSSD deputy chairman, is a member of the party leadership.
The CSSD will not avoid the need to solve at least partially its schism. With its support to Zeman on his way to the presidential post, however, the party at the same time contributes to the decision on its fate being made by someone else.
Zeman the opponent, having the powerful and dignified position of president, would most probably put the liberals in the CSSD on the complete defensive, Tabery writes.
Or, this could even cause the party’s split into the more conservative and the more liberal parts, he adds.
The latter could then join forces with the Green Party while the former would turn into something like Zemans’s party number two and cooperate more closely with the Communists, Tabery writes.
