Anyone with a sense of irony will think "trying to form a government, of course."

It's possible. More likely, though, they will be busy with an even worse activity, which will be even more annoying for the citizens. In a year's time, preparations for the presidential election will begin. And there will be the decision of whether to re-elect President Václav Klaus.

It will have been almost four years since Klaus uttered this profound statement: "I feel like I'm in a fairy tale."

It wasn't a fairy tale. And the protagonist, Klaus, didn't win for his bravery, cleverness or due to divine dispensation, but rather a horse trade with the Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia (KSČM) and thanks to the fact that some Social Democratic members of Parliament betrayed Zeman.

People felt humiliated and demanded a direct presidential vote. Similarly, the political parties were in favor. But they quickly forgot about that.

Let's imagine how things turn out in a year's time. The Civic Democratic Party (ODS) controls everything. The others' urge for revenge is pressing. Even though Klaus is popular and desires re-election, the ODS has no chance of seeing him through.

The price for the KSČM and the Christian Democratic Union (KDU-ČSL) will be high. Will the ODS buy the KSČM by proclaiming publicly that it is a real political party? What will Jiří Čunek, leader of KDU-ČSL, demand?

Jiří Paroubek will worry about how to fill the presidential post without Zeman. What if he himself is thinking of it? Someone may suggest the actress Jiřina Bohdalová, and others will suggest Senator Karel Schwarzenberg for the throne.

And the people will again feel ashamed of their fanatical rulers.

Or the ODS, KDU-ČSL and the Greens will keep the promise of their government/nongovernment's proclamation and give the people a direct presidential vote.

Instead of a soap opera that we are either disgusted or bored with, we will vote for the Superstar [the Czech version of American Idol]. And that, according to people on the street, is what we like, Komárek writes.

Instead of governing, Czech politicians have spent the year campaigning, Jiří Pehe writes in Hospodářské noviny Dec. 29.

Politicians spoke of voters, not citizens, when explaining their steps and turned into virtual psychoanalysts while reading voters' minds and revealing messages hidden in this year's election results.

All postelection steps were conducted by possible gains for the coming early ballot clash. Instead of seeking a compromise, politicians did their best to see early polls in the hope that their results would allow them not to compromise at all.

What got lost in all the "let's vote again" rhetoric was that Czech politicians actually have no idea how to rule in a situation when it takes a lot of hard work to negotiate a government.

The year 2006 sadly showed that local politicians do a better job of talking from the campaign trail and a worse one when it comes to responsible conduct of public affairs, Pehe writes.