You all have probably already heard, but if you didn’t here is the news: the formal indirect presidential elections have been changed to popular directions, meaning that the general public will vote for the next Czech president.
The the majority of the Czech senate agreed to this new law just this past Wednesday and already there are many well-respected politicians that are voicing their strong disagreements.
According to the current Czech president Vaclav Klaus for example, the country is not ready for such a major political change – the Czech Republic had been a parliamentary system from the beginning and he saw no sense in chaning this. Furthermore, Klaus criticised that the changes are introduced by an amendment to the election law only and constitutional powers of government and president will not be readjusted. The president presumes that a directly elected president would disposes of a stronger legitimacy than he currently does and might therefore upset the balance between the institutions. (2)
Petr Pithart, who is one of the creators of the Czech Constitution, called the new law to be ‘the Semtex (a bomb material) of the Czech constitutional system’. “It is a foreign element in our balanced constitutional system. It is like if you were to put a kidney transplant instead of a heart transplant in someone’s body.”
Novinky.cz also writes that no other country puts such trust in its president and tolerates his mistakes as the Czech Republic does, which could lead him to possibly manipulate the masses and becoming a dictator”.
So who are you going to vote for the next presidential elections? I will be probably voting for Karel Gott :).
CZ: Asi o tom uz vsichni vite, ale presidenta jiz brzy zacnou volit samotni obcane, nikoliv parlament. Senat toto rozhodnuti odsouhlasil tuto stredu.
I kdyz 49 senatoru ze 75 hlasovalo pro, hodne dulezitych politiku je stale proti.
Napiklad Petr Pithart, ktery je jeden z tvurcu ceske Ustavy oznacil tento novy zakon za semtex do ceskeho ustavniho rizeni. “Je to cizorody prvek do naseho vyvazeneho ustavniho celku. Je to jako byste na misto srdce implatovali ledviny”.
Vaclav Klaus je take jednim z protivniku, z podobnych duvodu jake uvadi Pithart. Tvrdi ze lidem zvoleny president by mohl nabit vetsi moc, nez ma ted a tudiz by se narusil delikatni balanc mezi existujicimi institucemi.
Novinky.cz take pisou, ze “krome toho pry zadna jina zeme nedisponuje tak tradicne velkou duveru v presidentsky urad a toleranci vuci jeho preslapum jako Cesko, coz by v budoucnu mohlo prezidenty navadet k manipulaci s lidmi a snaham o nastoleni diktatury”.
Tak koho volite po Klausovi vy? Ja budu volit asi Kaju Gotta :).
1. http://www.novinky.cz/domaci/258611-prezidenta-si-vyberou-sami-obcane-senat-souhlasil-s-primou-volbou.html
2. http://presidentialactivism.wordpress.com/2011/03/15/vaclav-klaus-against-direct-presidential-elections-in-czech-republic/
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This may be the first time since the other Václav was president that I’ve agreed with Klaus about anything. Although I’d lean toward strengthening the President’s powers, as in France and one or two other little countries, rather than vetoing or repealing popular election. (Not that there’s any particular reason vy Češi should be interested in my opinion.)
If I remember right, the Czech president has the authority to return a law to Parliament for another vote, but not to veto it outright. Is there any prospect that Klaus will try to block direct election? He’s not exactly known for going with the flow.
this will be interesting…
Haha, you are right about Klaus, he is not exactly the sheep that follows the crowd. I am not sure if he has the power to block the direct election but I don’t think he had officially the power to block the signing of the Lisbon treaty so I think if he really puts his mind into it, it could happen 🙂
Jo? bude to uplne jak v Americe? Muze se Hurvinek taky prihlasit?
😛
Za chvili tam prevezmou i Constitution. Ja si pamatuju jak jsme davno vsechno delali po Rusku, a tet zase vse po Americe. No ale je to spravne, ne? Lidi by si meli volit presidenta sami.
These elections certainly will be interesting. I will be following events related to the primaries and upcoming elections on my site: http://czechpresidentialelections.com/. I’ll welcome all comments and discussion about parties, candidates, candidates’ parties, etc.