Zeman’s video clip includes shots from his work in office, such as his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, his participation in the Czech-Chinese business forum, or a charity ball. Photo: Rama [CeCILL or CC BY-SA 2.0 fr], Wikimedia – modified
Prague, Jan 22 (CTK) – The public Czech Television (CT) started broadcasting the campaign spots of both finalists of the presidential runoff, President Milos Zeman, who did not release his video before the first round, and former Science Academy (AV) head Jiri Drahos, today.
Drahos used the same spot as before the first election round held on January 12-13.
Zeman, 73, and Drahos, 68, advanced to the second round with almost 39 and 27 percent, respectively. They will fight for presidency on January 26-27. According to opinion polls, their chances are more or less equal.
Unlike the other eight presidential bidders, Zeman did not deliver his spot to CT before the first round.
His spokesman Jiri Ovcacek justified his stance, saying Zeman was not leading any campaign, while a spot would mean “his personal pre-election campaign.”
Asked why Zeman has changed his stance, Ovcacek told CTK that “the second round has completely different parameters than the first round.”
During the time set for the promotion of Zeman as a presidential candidate on CT before the first round, viewers could see his old photo, a view of Prague Castle, the president’s office, covered with snow, and the slogan “Zeman Again 2018,” accompanied by the tunes of Bedrich Smetana’s opera Libuse.
Now Zeman’s video clip includes shots from his work in office, such as his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, his participation in the Czech-Chinese business forum, a charity ball hosted by him and his wife at Prague Castle and the celebration of his victory in the previous presidential election, the first direct one in the country’s history.
At the same time, a male voice is asking viewers whether they would prefer an experienced surgeon to a fresh student of medicine or a lawyer with a long practice to an unexperienced articled clerk.
“We are living in the era when there is no time for mistakes. Sad examples from various corners of Europe are warning. Elect the president who will not swerve off the path by a single step,” the voice says at the end of the spot.
Drahos is persuading voters to support him in a video, including shots from his public meetings as well as his jogging in the woods. “Will you decide to choose what you have already known or prefer something new instead,” he asks voters.
He says he wishes to live in a safe country “with self-confident foreign policy” that guarantees freedom of opinion as well as less red tape and more time for the family to citizens.
He also says he relies on his conscience and the vision of society in which decency, diligence and education prevail. He reminds of his eight years at the AV’s helm when he “clashed with several politicians.” “And I stood the test,” he concludes.
hol/dr/rtj
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