Press Advisories

28. 1. 201313:48

Prime Minister: I am hoping for effective cooperation with the new president

Statement by Prime Minister Petr Nečas on the results of the presidential elections.

I would like to congratulate newly elected president Miloš Zeman on his election victory in this historic first direct election of a President of the Czech Republic. I would also like to thank Karel Schwarzenberg for the vigorous campaign which he fought particularly during the second round of the election.

I would also like to express my appreciation of the citizens of the Czech Republic, of the voters who came in large numbers to the second round of the presidential election; I am convinced that this is a sure sign that the Czech public is interested in politics and was drawn by the election process into active participation in the election, particularly when we take into account the very unpleasant weather conditions which prevail here.

I would also like to say that I have spoken on the telephone to both presidential candidates and have offered my congratulations to Miloš Zeman on his election. I am convinced that Miloš Zeman is the logical candidate for the post of President, I would say that of those who put themselves forward he was the most natural candidate, because the post-Communist period of Czech politics has produced three personalities, Václav Havel, Václav Klaus and Miloš Zeman. In this light his aspiration to the Presidency as successor to Václav Havel and Václav Klaus is rather natural. He is a conventional politician who operates on conventional political ground, although on many questions, particularly socioeconomic, he and I are on opposite sides of the political spectrum. I am convinced that our cooperation will operate in an entirely conventional and routine manner.

I would also like to express my conviction that both candidates, now that the election campaign has ended, will contribute to ensuring a calming down of the atmosphere in our country. The election campaign, particularly during the second round, was unprecedentedly bitter and drove more than one wedge within society, very often between groups at work, families, social groups and so on. It is in our interest for all of us to join, now that the election is over, in declaring glory to the victors and honour to the defeated; now it is essential to calm the political and social atmosphere.