Prague mayor to run for Civic Democrat party posts

Prague Mayor Bohuslav Svoboda has said he is going to run for the post of chairman of the Civic Democrat Prague branch, despite his earlier statements to the contrary. Speaking in a televised debate on Sunday, Mr Svoboda also said he did not rule out running for the post of vice-chairman of the party, but said he was not interested in presidential candidacy. A new Civic Democrat leadership will be elected in about a year’s time. A gynaecologist by profession, Mr Svoboda became Prague Mayor after the 2010 municipal elections. Last month a coalition of the Civic and Social Democrats at the Prague City Hall was terminated and replaced by a centre-right coalition of the Civic Democrats and the TOP 09 party. The chairman of the Civic Democrats’ Prague branch Boris Šťastný who unexpectedly ended the grand coalition, in a move that many have speculated was aimed at removing Bohuslav Svoboda, resigned from his post on Friday.