Christian Democrats to raise direct presidential vote with coalition partners

The Christian Democrats are to raise the question of direct presidential elections with the other parties in the governing coalition, the Civic Democrats and the Greens. The party say they would like moves towards changing the constitution to allow a public vote to be made as quickly as possible. The Christian Democrats’ call comes after a recent bitterly fought parliamentary vote in which Václav Klaus was re-elected Czech president. The biggest party in the coalition the Civic Democrats are in favour of maintaining the current system. By contrast, the Greens and the Social Democrats are in favour of a direct vote, while the Communists say they could also back the change, if there were a cap on campaign spending.

Author: Ian Willoughby