President Klaus says Czechs fail to recognize importance of elections

President Václav Klaus said on Monday that Czechs clearly failed to appreciate the importance of voting in the European elections. Referring to the 28 percent turnout, Mr. Klaus said he was saddened but not surprised by people’s overwhelming lack of interest in European institutions and their failure to recognize the fact that their vote could help decide the future shape of Europe. Despite earlier having described the elections as a waste of time, the eurosceptic Czech president turned out to cast his ballot on Saturday, saying that he was motivated by the hope that this time the vote would result in a European Parliament that was more sensible and more significant than it had proved in the past. He said the failure of Czech eurosceptic parties such as libertas.cz or the newly established Free Citizens’ Party was due to poor PR and an inability to get their message across to the public.