Prague, June 22 (CTK) – Czech President Milos Zeman, 72, will leave politics if he loses the direct presidential election to be held next year, he said, answering a question from the audience at the Zofin Forum on the Czech National Interest today.
He said he would “definitely” not stay in politics if he lost the election. He said he would read books in a rocking chair in his countryside house.
Opinion polls show that the popularity of other presidential candidates, former Czech Sciences Academy head Jiri Drahos and businessman and lyricist Michal Horacek, has been increasing. However, Zeman is still the favourite of the election.
After Zeman looked very tired during his recent official visits to China and Vietnam, Czech media challenged his health condition. Zeman dismissed the speculations and said he did not feel markedly worse than before.
Zeman retired from politics already in 2003 when he ended in the post of prime minister and failed to be elected president by parliament. He later founded the Party of Citizens’ Rights, which did not enter parliament but organised his successful presidential campaign in 2012-13.
