Outgoing Czech president Václav Klaus has endorsed presidential hopeful Miloš Zeman, saying he wants a successor who has spent his whole life in the Czech Republic. Zeman’s rival, Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg, lived abroad for 40 years. Klaus said he wants this “small country to survive and not to dissolve in Europe like a sugar cube in a cup of coffee.” The runoff election will be held Jan. 25.
Ironically, Klaus’ endorsement could in fact benefit Schwarzenberg, according to the analyst Jiří Pehe. “Endorsing someone like Zeman might make it seem like Mr. Klaus wants a politician for president who will follow in his footsteps. But to follow in Klaus’ footsteps right now may not be the most popular thing one can do,” Pehe told the Czech radio. “So I would argue this may not be what some commentators ironically described as a ‘kiss of death’ but at the same time, it’s not something that would help Miloš Zeman.”
