UPDATE 1-Czech president says to seek second term

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Rightist Czech President Vaclav Klaus said on Wednesday he will seek a second and final five-year term in a 2008 election.

Klaus, 65, won a first term in 2003 thanks to rifts in the then ruling centre-left government which gave the founder of the opposition rightist Civic Democrats enough votes to beat the government candidate after several rounds.

"At this moment of the fourth anniversary of my election, I have decided, after deep consideration, to publicly announce that I am prepared (to stand) for a second term as president," Klaus said in a statement.

The former economics professor enjoys overwhelming popularity in public opinion polls, but the president is elected by a majority vote in a joint session of the 200-seat lower house and 81 seat Senate, not the public.

Parliament must begin to meet to elect a new president 30 days before Klaus' term expires on March 7, 2008. No other candidates have yet to announce they are seeking the post.

Klaus, finance minister of Czechoslovakia from 1989-1992 and prime minister from 1992-1997, has little say in the day-to-day running of the country but wields the power to appoint figures such as the prime minister, top judges and central bankers.

He played a key role in the months following an inconclusive general election last June, though his political manoeuvring may have cost him votes both from the Civic Democrats of Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek and the leftist Social Democrats.

Social Democrat leader Jiri Paroubek said on Tuesday his party was likely to nominate its own candidate for the post, though analysts said the party may change its course in exchange for policy concessions from the centre-right government.

The government has a solid majority in the Senate, but holds only 100 seats in the lower house, meaning Klaus will need support from at least one deputy from either the Social Democrats of the far left Communists.

Under the constitution the president cannot run for a third consecutive term.

Klaus replaced his rival, dissident playwright Vaclav Havel, who had served two consecutive terms after Czechoslovakia split into independent Czech and Slovak republics in 1993.

[PRAGUE/Reuters/Finance.cz]