After three rounds of voting, the Czech parliament on Friday elected a new president: former Prime Minister Vaclav Klaus
Published:
1 March 2003 y., Saturday
Former right-wing prime minister Vaclav Klaus was elected the new president of the Czech Republic on Friday, ending a crisis in finding a successor to post-Cold War giant Vaclav Havel, the parliamentary speaker said. Speaker Lubomir Zaoralek said to loud applause from lawmakers that Klaus had received 142 votes, one more than the majority of 141 required in the 281-member joint session of parliament.
His opponent, philosophy professor Jan Sokol who was the candidate of the center-left ruling coalition, had 124 votes in a third round that came after two inconclusive ballots earlier in the day, according to earlier unofficial results.
Lawmakers were trying for the third time since January to choose a president to succeed Vaclav Havel, who stepped down almost four weeks ago and had not yet been replaced.
Klaus got crucial support from previously non-aligned communists while deputies from Prime Minister Vladimir Spidla's Social Democrat party defected from the relatively unknown Sokol.
Havel, 66, a key figure in eastern Europe's transition to democracy and a moral force as president in the Czech Republic symbolizing the overcoming of divisive politics, stepped down on Feb. 2 after serving a maximum allowed two five-year terms, leaving a vacuum behind him.
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