Prague, Jan 25 (CTK) – All major Czech dailies today comment on the presidential runoff between incumbent President Milos Zeman and academic Jiri Drahos that will be held on Friday and Saturday.
The first duel between the two rivals, Zeman and Drahos, that the commercial TV Prima broadcast live on Tuesday night was a complete failure caused by the organiser, Teodor Marjanovic writes in Hospodarske noviny (HN).
The main say did not have the two candidates who would lead a matter-of-fact debate, but people in the audience who shouted hateful slogans during the debate, Marjanovic says.
Prima’s moderator let them shout instead of trying to calm them down, he adds.
Moreover, the selected topics (weapons, smoking, migration and church restitution) suited only one of the candidates, Zeman, and no of the issues that could challenge his presidency was opened by Prima, Marjanovic writes, mentioning Zeman’s sycophantic attitude to Russian interests, his honorary aide from an official of the Chinese CEFC which has been charged with massive corruption in Africa.
Lukas Jelinek says in Pravo that both presidential candidates tried to show their better qualities, Zeman his political experience and Drahos his academic restraint, but they did not offer much more.
Zeman had been wittier in the past and less touchy when his rival opened an unexpected issue and Drahos was expected to be more capable of appealing to the people, Jelinek writes.
He says Zeman is overripe and Drahos is not ripe yet.
Zeman lost the ability to deeply analyse topics, while Drahos seems unable to get under the surface, Jelinek writes.
If Drahos had not relied on simply being an alternative to Zeman whom many people dislike, he could have attacked Zeman’s weakest point – his permanently changing opinions, Jelinek says.
The influence of Czech president on the everyday life of common people in the country is absolutely marginal, unless there is an emergency situation, so why all the fuss about the presidential fight between Zeman and Drahos? Petr Kambersky says in Lidove noviny (LN).
The president has a big symbolic role and arouses a lot of emotions, Kambersky writes.
The emotional fight for a post of president, who has practically no influence on the level of pensions, quality of schools or air pollution seems paradoxical, Kambersky writes.
He says all traditional societies had ritualised holidays and festivals that served to ease the tension in society, and the presidential runoff is such a ritual, too.
kva/t
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