Czech version
latest issue home subscribe unsubscribe archive/search contact the fleet sheet


FS Final Word text archive

Klaus and the Communists

2005-11-23
There's a realistic possibility that Václav Klaus will be faced after the elections with whether to appoint a ÈSSD minority government backed by the Communists. He could refuse and try to force a ÈSSD-ODS coalition, or even new elections, or he could capitulate to the "will of the people" and negotiate his own reelection as part of the deal. Klaus refused on TV Prima to "speculate" about what he would do if the Communists came knocking. Ladislav Jakl, one of his top aides, told the Czech Council on Foreign Relations that he thinks Klaus would rather step aside than do what it takes to win the reelection support of a ÈSSD-KSÈM bloc. Jakl painted such a ÈSSD minority cabinet as something so horrible that he thinks Klaus would not want to be associated with it. Jakl added, though, that this is his own perception. He didn't rule out that, in the end, Klaus will do what it takes to get reelected. [Czech Republic Communist Party]