Prague, June 17 (CTK) – Ladislav Jakl, secretary to President Vaclav Klaus, was Sunday nominated for Czech president by the Party of Free Citizens (SSO), a small right-wing Eurosceptic group, SSO leader Petr Mach told CTK.<\/p>\n
„I am pleased to win the party’s support for my presidential candidacy,“ Jakl said.<\/p>\n
Mach said the SSO will now start collecting 50,000 signatures in support of Jakl’s candidacy, which is a precondition of his running in the direct election that will be held at the beginning of next year.<\/p>\n
According to the SSO, the Czech Republic should leave the European Union, unless it succeeds in pushing through major changes to the EU.<\/p>\n
Jakl, 52, heads the political department of the Presidential Office. He has been Klaus’s aide since 1997. He is known for his provocative statements.<\/p>\n
Klaus will leave the presidential post in spring 2013.<\/p>\n
Opinion polls show that the favourites of the election are Jan Fischer, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRB) vice-president and former caretaker cabinet head, Milos Zeman, former socialist chairman and prime minister, and Jan Svejnar, a U.S.-based economist who ran against Klaus in the 2008.<\/p>\n