Final Word from Monday, December 13, 2021

A few hours before Pres. Miloš Zeman announced on Fri. that he will not appoint Jan Lipavský of the Pirates as foreign minister, his chief of staff, Vratislav Mynář, spoke in MFD about a putsch attempt on the president with the participation of Dir. Miroslav Zavoral of ÚVN military hospital. Despite the timing of Mynář's comments, coalition politicians and their allies in the media mostly ignored the obvious message: The five-party coalition tried to strip Zeman of his powers while he was hospitalized and almost achieved this goal; now it's Zeman's turn. It's a similar situation to what happened after members of ČSSD went against Zeman in 2003 and helped elect Václav Klaus as president. Zeman spoke a year later about a deck of 27 playing cards with the names and faces of the traitors, and he then systematically targeted them for political liquidation, with considerable success. This time, his rivals can take small comfort in knowing that his term in office expires on March 8, 2023. [ Czech Republic MF Dnes coup Gen. Article Art. 66 Constitution ]