Final Word from Monday, June 25, 2012

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Perhaps the most important comment so far of the 2013 presidential race was made last week by Miloš Zeman. He told Právo that he expects it to be a battle of the Left and the Right and that he considers Jan Fischer to be the ideal candidate of the Right. Jiří Paroubek quickly seconded this, saying the next day on Hyde Park that Fischer is a natural candidate of the Right and that he (Paroubek) will support whomever of Jan Švejnar and Zeman who makes it to the second round. Given this clever strategy by Zeman to split the field, Fischer may yet regret not seeking the official support of ČSSD, esp. if Švejnar doesn't run. The Right will be more crowded than the Left, with Fischer, Karel Schwarzenberg, Ladislav Jakl, Jana Bobošíková and now Vladimír Dlouhý. By entering the race, Dlouhý might be helping Zeman, but Zeman's strategy also helps Dlouhý by shifting the election away from merely a Zeman-Fischer affair.[Czech Republic direct elections]