Party leaders meet ahead of Friday’s presidential election

The chairman of the lower house Miloslav Vlček has called a meeting of party leaders ahead of Friday’s presidential elections. The aim of these last minute consultations is to try and reach agreement on the method of voting in what will be a second attempt to elect a new Czech president. A dispute over whether the vote should be public or by secret ballot blocked the election process for close to ten hours last week. The Civic Democrats and the Christian Democrats have said they will push for a traditional secret ballot, blaming last week’s public vote for the undignified scenes that accompanied the election process.