Prague, Sept 5 (CTK) – The Kromeriz Appeal group that was established this May in order to propose a candidate for Czech president based on the consensus of thousands of its followers will present the candidate next June, about six months before the next presidential election, its representatives announced on Monday.
The group completed a preliminary list of 25 potential candidates based on a poll among its followers of whom there are 6,500 now, Michael Kocab, a musician, former human rights minister and one of the 25 personalities in the list, told a press conference.
Also present were Petr Kolar, a diplomat and former ambassador to the USA and Russia, and Jiri Pospisil, former justice minister who is now a MEP for the right-wing opposition TOP 09 party. Their names also figure in the list.
Kolar and Pospisil said they have not yet decided whether to seek the presidential post in the direct race in early 2018.
They said, nevertheless, they might support the Kromeriz Appeal’s definitive candidate.
The list also includes Michal Horacek, a song writer and producer, who, however, reportedly does not want to cooperate with the Kromeriz Appeal.
“The next presidential election will be of crucial importance for the further orientation of our country,” Kocab said, adding that he is not considering running for president.
The Kromeriz Appeal wants to choose and support the contender who would defend basic democratic principles and values.
“We are afraid that a candidate who does not adhere to constitutional and democratic values may succeed again,” said Vaclav Nemec, a spokesman for the group.
Czech presidents were chosen by the two houses of parliament in the past before the direct election was introduced. It took place on January 2013 for the first time and was won by Milos Zeman, former Social Democrat prime minister, who beat eight rival candidates.
Zeman’s mandate will expire in March 2018. He has not yet announced whether he will seek re-election, but he is widely expected to do so.
The Kromeriz Appeal’s preliminary list of candidates includes priest Tomas Halik, economists Jan Svejnar and Tomas Sedlacek, musician and actor Marek Eben, actor and film maker Zdenek Sverak, astrophysicist Jiri Grygar and present or former politicians such as ex-PM Petr Pithart, ex-ministers Karel Schwarzenberg and Zuzana Roithova, MP Miroslava Nemcova, former diplomat Michael Zantovsky and incumbent Human Rights Minister Jiri Dienstbier.
Schwarzenberg (TOP 09), Roithova (Christian Democrats, KDU-CSL) and Dienstbier (Social Democrats, CSSD) were among the unsuccessful rivals of Zeman in the 2013 election.
