President Klaus urges in-depth reform

In an open letter to the Civic Democratic Party conference, President Klaus said the party needed to regain public trust which required a change of guard and a return to the party’s traditional values. Mr. Klaus, who founded the Civic Democratic Party in 1991 and led it for eleven years, gave up his membership two years ago because he disagreed with the party’s direction. He said the drain of voters in recent years was most likely due to the fact that the party had abandoned its original course. Mr. Klaus also expressed support for the election of Petr Nečas to the post of chairman saying that the party needed a trustworthy leader and Mr Nečas was such a man.