NID: CZECHOSLOVAKIA: CONTESTING HOW TO PICK A PRESIDENT

• Document Type: SPECIALCOLLECTION
• Collection: The Collapse of Communism in Eastern Europe: A 30-Year Legacy
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 06826825
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: November 26, 2019
• Document Release Date: December 10, 2019
• Publication Date: December 15, 1989

Approved for Release: 2019/10/29 C06826825
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CZECHOSLOVAKIA: Conk.sting How To Pick a President
The election of a president will be the next benchmark in
Czechoslovakia's movement toward democracy.
The Civic Forum and the Communist ['any have not yet agreed on
how m select the president but have decided to give themselves until
24 January to hold the election. They reportedly also agreed that to be
eligitle a candidate must be a Czech who is not affiliated with any
political party. The Communist Party spokesman. however, contends
that only the extraordinary party congress set for next Wednesday has
the right to determine the party's stance on the election process. The
Dem.)cratic Forum of Communists, the reform wing of the party
which claims 50,000 adherents hls demanded that the president be
popurarly elected.
Recent polls indicate that popular support is split among various
candidates, including Civic Forum leader Vaclav Havel, Prague
Spring-era leader Cestmir Cisar, reform economist Valtr Komarek,
and Alexander Dubcek. One poll rates popular support for Civic
Forum at 78 percent a:.:1 for the Communists at only 16 percent.
Comment: The intense negotiations over how to elect a new president
suggest that both sides realize the post's imponance to
democratization. The Civic Forum wants a president who will be a
symb:31 of the break with past abuses and who will protect the fragile
democratization process from possible Communist power plays. The
Communist Party seeks to deny the presidency to Vaclav Havel, and
hopes to install so cone more agreeable to Communist influence.
The Communist reformers' demand for a direct presidential election,
which would require a constitutional amendment, probably is a
delaying tactic to gain time to regroup after next week's congress.
They almost certainly expect to win a reform-oriented Central
Committee and a revamped Presidium. The latest polls confirm the
Communists' sagging fortunes, however, and their maneuvers to
publit suspects that they are trying to hold on to power
preve it a quick decision on the presidency may backfir �
TCS 2990/89
15 December 1989
Approved for Release: 2019/10/29 006826825