Fischer not to support Schwarzenberg in Czech presidential campaign

PRAGUE, Jan. 21 (Xinhua) -- Czech former Prime Minister Jan Fischer, who had dropped out of the first round of presidential election, said Monday that he could not support Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg in the campaign.

This means he indirectly back candidate Milos Zeman, former socialist PM to run for the election.

Fischer, head of the interim cabinet of unaffiliated experts in 2009-2010, said Monday in a statement that Schwarzenberg (conservative TOP 09) once compared former Czechoslovak president Edvard Benes (1935-48) with war criminals.

In doing so, Schwarzenberg is undermining the international fame of the Czech Republic. "I cannot support the foreign minister who in fact compared President Benes to war criminals tried by the international tribunal in The Hague," he said.

He said he has known Milos Zeman, former socialist prime minister, for more than 30 years and disagrees with him on many points. Nevertheless, he appreciates Zeman for gathering a high number of people's signatures in support of his candidacy.

Schwarzenberg did not gather any signatures as he was nominated for president by legislators from his TOP 09. In addition, Zeman is a candidate whose views are clear, well-known for long, and who does not fear to face responsibility for the performance of his former Social Democrat (CSSD) cabinet (in power in 1998-2002), Fischer said.

In reaction to Fischer's statement, Schwarzenberg said that he is not surprised. He said Fischer had called for a change to politics within his presidential campaign, but now he has supported just the opposite. "Jan Fischer has supported the system's maintenance instead of a change," Schwarzenberg said.

Fischer, who was considered a hot favorite for the Czech president election, was surprisingly defeated in the first round of the direct election. Political analysts and commentators have emphasized that the choice of Fischer's supporters may be decisive for the final election outcome.

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