'King Klaus' gets a fiery farewell

When Václav Klaus took over the presidency in 2003, his political career already had the elements of a Shakespearian storyline. After 13 years of standoffs with his ideological archrival, Václav Havel, Klaus became his successor with the aid of the demonized Communists, the party Havel drove out of mainstream politics in 1989.

Riding into Prague Castle while promising the people an era of consensus building and stability may have been the fairy-tale ending Klaus envisioned. Alas, his departure 10 years later was more along the lines of Macbeth.

As the Constitutional Court prepared to rule on high treason charges against him, a jovial crowd of some 300 people carried Klaus' burning effigy from the main castle gates down to Charles Bridge. As they hurled it high over the Gothic stonemasonry, the flaming head detached from the body and floated helplessly in the water before disappearing into the murky depths.

The March 7 event coincided with Klaus' last official day in office and was masterminded by a handful of locally influential civic groups that monitor the city's public affairs and - when it is deemed appropriate or necessary - organize protest events.

Olga Cieslarová, spokeswoman for the initiative Pražské fórum, described this "Klaus' Farewell" as the resuscitation of an age-old public ritual. The effigy effectively served as a Morana, the Slavic goddess of death, whose effigy revelers carried out during Carnevale since the Middle Ages.

"[It's] an old tradition marking the end of winter," Cieslarová said. "We are hoping President Klaus never again returns to politics."

This sentiment was apparently shared by a 38-strong majority of the Senate, which previously charged the outgoing president with high treason for violating the Constitution by failing to appoint judges and declaring a controversial amnesty that halted the prosecution of key corruption cases. The Constitutional Court began deliberating on these charges in a closed session March 12 but had yet to come to a conclusion as of press time.

Markéta Hulpachová can be reached at
mhulpachova@praguepost.com