Direct presidential election likely

The Cabinet was set to agree Feb. 2 on a model for future presidential elections to be a direct popular vote.

The step follows a pledge to make the change in the government's coalition agreement dating from last year. However, a direct election requires amending the Constitution and the support of at least two opposition lawmakers to meet the three-fifths majority needed for constitutional changes, and there remains an open question about whether alterations to the actual powers imbued in the presidency will accompany a new electoral system.

The election scenario drawing the most support is a two-round voting system similar to the format presently used in Senate elections. Several candidates would run; if one of the candidates does not receive 50 percent of the votes, a runoff round would ensue between the top two vote-getters.

"It is already clear that this option will be the victorious one," said Jakub Ševčík, a spokesman for the coalition's TOP 09 party. 

Even the opposition Social Democrats (ČSSD) have expressed support for such a plan but contrary to the government are also seeking to change the powers granted to the president. Among the proposed changes are added powers in appointing leaders of the Supreme Administrative Court, as well as making it easier for the head of state to dissolve Parliament and accept government resignations. Presidential powers would be curtailed in appointing board members of the National Bank, and intervening with pardons in criminal cases, under the ČSSD proposal. 

Some lawmakers are pushing for a presidential election in 2012 alongside Senate elections. The move would help save up to 1 billion Kč by some estimates, avoiding the costs of a completely separate election, but would present the awkward situation of having a new president elected while President Václav Klaus serves out his term, which runs through early 2013.

Several political scientists have expressed doubts about the proposed changes.

"It is interesting that no one is asking why it is necessary to change the way the president is elected, and if we really need direct presidential elections," said Petr Just, a professor at both Charles University and Metropolitan University Prague. "The Czech Republic does not need it, and none of its defenders gave arguments as to why a direct election should be implemented."

Opening the door

In the early 1990s, the decision to have an indirectly elected president emanated from a desire to replicate certain structures that appeared in the so-called First Republic of the 1920s and 1930s. Parliament's bicameral setup was meant to address the necessarily federal structure of Czechoslovakia. 

"The only positive [with a direct presidential election] is that the identification of citizens with the state would be intensified, because traditionally, the president has considerably higher trust from citizens than other state institutions," said Milan Znoj, a political scientist at Charles University. "The idea that a direct presidential election would lead to a consolidation of democracy is wrong. Rather, it would open the door to charismatic leaders with populist tendencies."

Both Just and Znoj expressed concerns that a directly elected president could be a source of instability in a parliamentary system.

"A directly elected president might feel himself stronger than he is according the Constitution and may dare to do more following the argument that he got the legitimacy from people - and a higher legitimacy than the government, which has it from the Chamber of Deputies," Just said.

"There would be more friction between the president and the Parliament and government, or with other constitutional institutions, above all the judiciary," Znoj added.

Interior Minister Radek John is slated to submit other proposed changes to the election code this month, including new options for electronic and mail-in voting.

A number of speculative candidates for the presidential post have emerged with Prime Minister Petr Nečas saying he would support Senate Deputy Chairman Přemysl Sobotka (ODS). Other names that have been floated include Foreign Affairs Minister Karel Schwarzenberg (TOP 09) and economist Jan Švejnar, who was the ČSSD-backed candidate in the 2008 election won by Klaus.

A public opinion poll in December 2010 found Švejnar to be the most popular candidate. However, before the ČSSD can zero in on a candidate, it must first elect a party chairman at their March congress. The two leading candidates are Acting Chairman Bohuslav Sobotka and Deputy Chairman Michal Hašek.

Hašek has said he would not support a Švejnar candidacy as he is not a "real Social Democrat."

- Klára Jiřičná and Filip Šenk contributed to this report.

Benjamin Cunningham can be reached at
bcunningham@praguepost.com