Klaus and the left

Václav Klaus and his team have always been sensitive to the claim that it was the Communists who got Klaus elected as president. Castle Spokesman Petr Hájek returned to the issue yesterday in HN, in one of his intermittent diatribes against what he called "Klaus slayers" (Jan Macháček, in this case). Clearly, MPs from across the spectrum voted for Klaus, Hájek said. Communist Party Vice Chair Jiří Dolejš told Právo that he wasn't one of them. He said he considered the Communist vote for Klaus to be shortsighted at the time. And today, he added, the entire left is paying the price. It's probably true that if Miloš Zeman had been elected president, Vladimír Špidla would still be premier, ČSSD wouldn't be on the verge of collapse, and the left would be better off. When Klaus runs for reelection in three years, the left might not want to make the same mistake twice. Hospodářské noviny KSČM Czech Republic