Where is the samurai?

Seven months can seem like an eternity. But for politicians who aren't quite thrilled by Václav Klaus, the time will probably pass very fast. It's becoming clearer and clearer that finding a person who might stand a chance of beating Klaus in the presidential election at the beginning of next year will not be easy.

It won't be direct

Anyone looking forward to a direct presidential election will need to wait at least five years. Political parties – although most of them had direct presidential elections in their party programs – don't feel like implementing the change just yet. The official reason is that there isn't enough time to realise such a large constitutional change, but the real reason probably has to do with the simple fact that parties don't want to lose their influence. The opportunity for deal making during the presidential election is, of course, tempting.

According to information from the ČSSD, offering his support to Václav Klaus is the only weapon Jiří Paroubek can use to try to convince the ODS to enter a grand coalition [with the ČSSD] if the current coalition were to fall apart. The ODS, moreover, doesn't need a direct presidential election to win right now. For other parties, Václav Klaus's high popularity makes a direct presidential election unfavourable.

So next winter it will yet again be upon the country's deputies and…