Prague - The ending year 2013 has brought extraordinarily dramatic changes in Czech politics. This "political earthquake" was probably the most important development in modern Czech history since the fall of the communist regime in 1989 and the dissolution of Czechoslovakia in 1993.
The year started with a controversial amnesty, declared by then-President Vaclav Klaus whose second five-year term was set to expire in March. The subsequent public outrage revolved around the fact that the amnesty halted the prosecution of some high-profile muti-billion financial frauds. A group of senators even filed a high treason charge against Klaus with the Constitutional Court.
Court rejects treason complaint against Klaus.
Zeman presidency
Later in January, former Social Democrat (CSSD) chairman Milos Zeman won in the nation's first-ever direct presidential election, amid a campaign marred by nationalism and false accusations.
Ex-PM Milos Zeman wins Czech presidential vote
Zeman, who previously served as prime minister from 1998 to 2002, is known not only for his pro-Russian stances and critical opinions of Islam, but also for his hatred for some key members of the Social Democrats, including chairman Bohuslav Sobotka. This feud stems from Zeman's unsuccessful presidential candidacy in 2003, when some Social Democrat lawmakers voted for his rivals. Zeman's election as president in January 2013 further deepened the division between the pro-Zeman and anti-Zeman camps in the Social Democratic Party, the largest Czech left-wing party. This split proved to be of huge importance later in the year.
Unprecedented high-profile raid
But the real earthquake came in mid-June, when police arrested a number of top civil servants, military intelligence officials and former lawmakers in an entirely unexpected and massive high-profile raid.
State officials, ex-lawmakers detained in massive raid
The key arrest was of Jana Nagyova, a top adviser and mistress of then-Prime Minister Petr Necas from the Civic Democratic Party (ODS), whose cabinet resigned a few days later in response to the scandal. Nagyova has been charged with ordering illegal spying on the PM's wife and bribing three Civic Democrat lawmakers with lucrative jobs in state-run companies. The prosecution has interrogated Necas and may still bring charges against him.
President Zeman reacted by naming a technocratic government headed by former minister Jiri Rusnok, even though the parliamentary parties that had formed the previous ruling coalition preferred to continue while the left-wing opposition wanted an early election.
Defying parliament, technocratic government is sworn in
Critics argued that the technocratic cabinet was nothing more than Zeman's instrument to implement his domestic and foreign agenda.
The Rusnok government eventually lose a confidence vote and the president called an early election for late-October.
Czech technocratic government loses confidence vote
New political force
As was widely expected, the Social Democrats won the vote, but much less decisively than they hoped. This was largely a result of the said internal split, which further escalated immediately after the election into an "inner coup".
The real winner of the election was thus the front-running ANO 2011, a new political party founded by food and agriculture billionaire Andrej Babis. The question is how will this newcomer fare in the world of parliamentary politics.
"Czech Berlusconi" is real winner of early election
Two days before the Christmas Eve, the Social Democrats reached an agreement with ANO 2011 and the Christian Democrats to form a coalition government. Social Democrat chairman Bohuslav Sobotka will become prime minister and Andrej Babis, one of the richest people in the Czech Republic, will serve as finance minister.
What's next?
The coming year 2014 is unlikely to bring more stability, as the investigation of high-profile corruption and fraud cases is set to progress, President Milos Zeman - if his health lets him - will continue to have a very active role in Czech domestic and foreign politics, the internal split in the senior ruling Social Democrats does not appear to be losing any of its intensity, and the recently established coalition will inevitably run into disputes over some key topics, such as taxes or the return of church property.
And of course, Czech semi-state energy giant CEZ is expected to finally award the multi-billion euro public contract to expand the Temelin nuclear plant. The tendering process carries heavy geopolitical implications, with Japanese-American company Westinghouse competing with the Russian nuclear agency's bid.
Moreover, the Czech economy is not doing very well, which has resulted in increasing poverty rates and some other social problems, such as anti-Roma riots.
