Prague, July 24 (CTK) – Czech President Milos Zeman dismissed the view that his tours of the regions were a campaign for his re-election in a live interview with the public Czech Radio on Monday.
He said he cannot see a reason why he should give up his meetings with citizens.
Zeman reacted to the criticism by Jan Outly, a member of the Office Supervising the Financial Management of Political Parties and Movements, who said Zeman should consider touring the regions during the election campaign or include the costs of his meetings with citizens in the campaign limit of 50 million crowns.
Zeman, 72, who was elected for a five-year term in the first direct presidential election in the Czech Republic in 2013, will seek re-election in early 2018.
Zeman pointed out on Monday that if he had started touring the regions now, it might have been an election campaign, however, he had been visiting the regions since the beginning of his mandate.
Besides, he did not and will not call on people to vote for him in the next presidential election during the trips, he added.
He reiterated that he was not leading any election campaign in the regions.
Zeman said he would also visit the U.N. General Assembly and Russia, give a speech in the Council of Europe in Strasbourg and attend an agriculture fair in Ceske Budejovice, south Bohemia, in his capacity as president.
“If Mr Outly were consistent, he would have to understand all events of the president of the republic as my election campaign, which, you must admit, is nonsense,” he added.
Zeman said Outly’s statements were motivated by the fact that he had appointed the other candidate, Vojtech Weis, as the office’s head, and not him.
“Consequently, I have the right to suppose that injured vanity is behind his reaction a bit,” Zeman said.
Zeman has visited the regions often. In Outly’s opinion, he should therefore include the costs of his meetings with citizens in the financial limit set by law.
If the office set quite loose criteria and did not deal with the matter, it would not be easy to regulate this in the future, Outly said.
The regional self-rule authorities paid almost 17 million crowns for Zeman’s visits to the regions from his inauguration in March 2013 till this May. Towns and villages must also spend money on Zeman’s trips, for instance, on platforms and sound systems during his meetings with their inhabitants.
