Czech president to let his office's head run in elections

Czech President Milos Zeman said on Friday that he would let his office's head, Vratislav Mynar, run in the forthcoming early elections for the Party of Citizens' Rights (SPOZ). Mynar was the SPOZ chairman before becoming Zeman's office head. The small SPOZ supported Zeman in the presidential campaign last winter. Zeman is the party's honorary chairman. "As Presidential Office head he should be above parties, but as a citizen he has his rights like anybody else. Among others, he has the right to run for the party he chooses," said Zeman. He said Mynar would have to leave the post if he won a parliamentary seat in the elections scheduled for late October. The Czech parliament has voted to dissolve itself early this week, clearing the way for snap elections after a bribery scandal brought down the country's government this summer. A caretaker gvoerment run by Jiri Rusnok, which Zeman had appointed in July without the parliament's support, will stay in place until elections. Zeman has said that he would cast his vote for the SPOZ.