Czech Presidential Election, 2008 - Voting - Second Attempt (15 February)

Second Attempt (15 February)

The date for the second election was set to 15 February 2008. The second election also allows for the three rounds, with the same rules as the first election and both present candidates will be running. In the second election, communist party KSČM proposed an additional candidate – MEP and former TV anchorwoman Jana Bobošíková. She is known as an outspoken critic of the EU and of the planned US missile shield in Poland and the Czech Republic.

Two independent senators who had voted for Klaus, Liana Janáčková and Jana Juřenčáková, stated they had been threatened, and the ČSSD senator Evžen Snítilý who left the session in the third round of the first attempt, stated he wanted to leave the party (an was soon expelled). Reportedly, Snítilý suffered from threats and blackmail over his StB past.

The three nominees were Švejnar, Klaus and Bobošíková. Bobošíková was nominated by 17 KSČM deputies, but the Communists stated they would be inclined to support Švejnar under certain conditions.

Klaus' chances to be reelected were boosted when Snítilý announced he would vote for Klaus prior to the session. Surprisingly, in his address on 15 February 2008 before the joint session of parliament, Klaus stated he supported holding the presidential elections as public ballots and not as secret ballots as he demanded before. Klaus also delivered a significantly more nationalistic and euroskeptical speech than the week previously. This was taken as an indication that he knew he had the votes to win and no longer needed to moderate his feelings.

Bobošíková withdrew her candidacy shortly after the debate and before the first round of voting citing a lack of support for her, boosting Švejnar's chances. The Communists then announced they would employ the same tactic as in the first attempt: They will support Švejnar in the first and second rounds, but abstain in the third round, thus trying to make the second attempt at electing a president a failure, as well.

After more debate on the method of voting, the ODS accepted holding the vote with public ballots again. Green MP Olga Zubová was absent from the session due to a surgical intervention she had some time ago.

In the first round of voting, Klaus received 141 votes, just enough for his reelection in the third round. The second round saw similar results, but also a drop in support for Švejnar by the Communists. Prior to the third round, it was reported that Minister for Human Rights and Minorities Džamila Stehlíková from the Greens was at the missing MP Zubová's residence, likely trying to get her to show up for the third round to improve Švejnar's chances.

In the third round Klaus was re-elected as President of the Czech Republic.

In his acceptance speech Klaus talked of wanting to be 'President of all Czechs' and his staff spend the following days trying to convey the idea of a nation happy with the outcome. In reality, the fact that his re-election depended on 3 Social Democrats who left their party in deeply suspicious circumstances has thrown a large cloud over what he had hoped would be more a coronation than a re-election.

Round Václav Klaus Jan Švejnar Jana Bobošíková
Deputies Senators Deputies Senators
1st 93 48 104 32 retracted candidacy
141 136
2nd 93 48 94 32
141 126
3rd 93 48
141 111

Read more about this topic:  Czech Presidential Election, 2008, Voting

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