Presidential games

ČSSD will hold a referendum and an internal party vote this month for choosing its presidential candidate, and it has publicly declared that the results of the referendum will be binding. However, a party official cast doubt on this yesterday. He told us that ČSSD will compare the winner of the public vote and the internal vote and then "consider" whom to nominate. This entire process was contrived by Vladimír Špidla's people as a way to make sure Miloš Zeman isn't ČSSD's candidate. Jiří Hanák said today in Právo that the presidential elections are turning into a farce. The final selection of the president will be the result of a backroom deal, and all the noise now is just fodder for the media. Write-ins will be allowed in ČSSD's referendum, so ČSSD's voters can protest against the manipulation by writing in, say, Václav Klaus or Viktor Kožený.