Prague - The Czech presidential candidate Jan Švejnar officially launched his presidential campaign earlier this week. A man who has the support of Social Democrats and the Green Party, as well as some smaller factions in the Senate, is going out to mingle with the crowd.
The Michigan-based economist with a US passport decided to unveil his program for the "next thirty days in the run-up to the election".
He is introducing a novelty: he will be going out to the country, visiting seven towns and cities and introducing himself to the wider public. He doesn't realy need to do that, as he will be elected exclusively by MPs and senators, most of whom he already met. But he has his own good reasons.
Tour of seven cities
Behind his urge to meet ordinary people may very well be the fact that last year those about to give him their vote publicly promised the electorate this kind of walkabouts.
Last year Martin Bursík, the Green Party leader, promised just such a campaign by the presidential candidates in an interview with Aktuálně.cz.
Mr. Švejnar is to visit both the largest cities in the Czech Republic and strategically important towns. "The day after tomorrow (=Wednesday), I will start in Zlín, with a lecture at Tomáš Baťa University among other things. Then we will move on to Kroměříž for a meeting with people," Mr. Švejnar said.
After that, he will be visiting České Budějovice, Brno, Hradec Králové, Pilsen and Ostrava.
Another potential presidential candidate, Mr. Jiří Dienstbier, visited Brno before Mr. Švejnar, last autumn.
Devoid of the usual trappings
It's not clear whom exactly Mr. Švejnar will be meeting during his travels, nor how his meeting with the public will be set up. One thing is obvious: there will be no traditional election meetings in the squares of the kind most Czechs know from the political parties' electioneering.
Family members will not be accompanying Mr. Švejnar on his tour. "My wife definitely will not be coming along as she'll be working in America," the presidential hopeful said.
Those unable to meet Mr. Švejnar during his journey will still have plenty of opportunity to meet him virtually. On Monday his special election website had been launched on the Internet.
So far, Mr. Švejnar is mainly trying to introduce himself on the personal webpage, trying to close the gap between him and his rival, the incumbent Václav Klaus.
It is a tall order, since the president's name consistently comes up as that of the most trusted politician in the Czech Republic.
Klaus woos the lawmakers
In the meantime, Klaus is making rounds among the lawmakers, who remain roughly equally split between the two camps.
The Civic Democrats (ODS), who stand united behind their chairman emeritus, control the most seats in the two chambers of the Czech parliament. But Mr. Klaus is also seeking votes from the communist senators and from their colleagues in the SNK and KOD clubs where he has several backers.
On Thursday, Mr. Klaus will be holding talks with the Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk concerning the possibility of hosting the US radar in the Brdy Mountains west of Prague as part of the American anti-missile defense shield
The communists, who are dead-set against the plan, say they are monitoring the attitude of both presidential candidates on this issue. They recently said this criterion will strongly influence their decision.
There will be no direct public contest - TV debate or another - between the two Czech presidential candidates as President Klaus keeps refusing to take part.
