(Reoeats story published late on Feb 15)
By Petra Vodstrcilova and Jan Korselt
PRAGUE, Feb 15 (Reuters) - The Czech parliament narrowly
re-elected right-winger Vaclav Klaus as the central European
country's president on Friday, averting a potential crisis in
the ruling coalition.
Klaus, an outspoken eurosceptic and the architect of Czech
post-communist economic reforms, won 141 votes, just above the
140 he needed to beat independent economist Jan Svejnar.
The re-election is a boost for Prime Minister Mirek
Topolanek, whose position could have been threatened by a
failure to push Klaus through after the vote deeply split his
ruling coalition.
Klaus, 66, was elected to his first term in 2003, replacing
former dissident playwright Vaclav Havel, who had ruled since
the fall of communism in 1989.
Klaus was re-elected in the third round of voting on Friday,
after previous three rounds last week failed, prompting feverish
talks and pressure from both camps on lawmakers to switch sides.
"The division of our political scene must not become a brake
on our way forward," Klaus said after the vote. "I will be the
president of all citizens."
The presidency is highly respected by Czechs. Although the
post is largely ceremonial, the head of state helps to steer the
EU member by appointing prime ministers, central bank chiefs and
top judges.
Klaus was nominated by the right-wing Civic Democrats, a
party he founded and led until Topolanek took over in 2002.
However the Civic Democrats' junior governing partners, the
Green Party, backed Svejnar, raising tensions in the coalition.
Upper house chairman Premysl Sobotka, a Civic Democrat, said
after the election the coalition would stick together.
Greens chairman Bursik also saw the tensions easing.
"I think the dust will settle now... the situation was very
tense," he said. "I would recommend that the prime minister
plans some off-site meeting so we can ride bikes somewhere or
ski so we find a way back to each other again," he said.
EMBOLDENED EUROSCPETIC
A fierce critic of any transfer of powers from nation states
to the EU, Klaus has also attracted controversy at home and
abroad by challenging the dangers of global warming.
Analyst Tomas Lebeda said Klaus would raise his eurosceptic
profile in his second term when he will no longer need to win
support for re-election.
"This will be a presidency of the real, 100 percent Klaus
not bound by anything," said Lebeda. "Much more often, and
possibly more radically he will show his eurosceptic views."
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso was
nevertheless fast to congratulate Klaus.
"I hope for your commitment to our joint effort in
preserving the European values and tackling the challenges
Europe faces today," he said in a message to the president.
Klaus's views on the EU will come under the spotlight when
the Czech Republic holds the bloc's rotating presidency in the
first half of 2009.
The cabinet however has a much more business-like approach
to the EU, and the Civic Democrats' coalition partners are
strongly pro-European.
(Writing by Jan Lopatka; editing by Philippa Fletcher)
