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.
Šaltinis:
dw-world.de
Copying, publishing, announcing any information from the News.lt portal without written permission of News.lt editorial office is prohibited.
The most popular articles
The twentieth anniversary of the Baltic Way was commemorated in Tokyo.
more »
After an emotional funeral service in Boston and a 90-minute flight from Massachusetts, the flag-draped casket holding Edward Kennedy arrived by motorcade in Washington, D.C. for a final visit to the U.S. Capitol Building, the political home for the senior Senator of Massachusetts for almost half a century.
more »
Mike Perham has become the youngest person to sail single handedly round the world. It's also the dream of another teenager in the Netherlands.
more »
Whenever its member countries are hit by natural disasters, the EU steps in to help coordinate assistance and fund the reconstruction of essential infrastructure.
more »
Inside this tiny house in central Cuba a woman rekindles old fashioned romance in a modern age. Liudmila Quincose writes love letters for a living.
more »
A traditional drum beat opens the 2009 World Karate Championships in Japan.
more »
Scientists are investigating the death of about 300 sea lions on the coast of Chile.
more »
Carmen Valverde and her dog Tomas were out for a walk in their Lima, Peru neighborhood when Tomas was snatched from her side.
more »
It was never going to be a quiet affair when Lance Armstrong put out an invitation on twitter for fans to join him on a bike ride around a Scottish town.
more »
About half of the British public feel there is a general negative bias in reporting on EU affairs on television, radio and in the written press, with written press reports seen as the most negative, according to a public opinion poll published by the European Commission today.
more »