Final Word from Wednesday, February 9, 2022

Pres. Miloš Zeman's ratings are in the pits and will likely fall even further when CVVM publishes its next survey. At the end of last year, Zeman had a 36/60 approval/disapproval rating. Since then, he has taken several steps that alienate his base. First he shocked nearly everyone by accepting Jan Lipavský as foreign minister, after vowing never to do so. Then he supported mandatory covid vaccination, which might have pleased the elderly population but certainly not the illiberal crowd around SPD. Then he said that he would sign the amendment to the pandemic law and that those who used mock gallows to protest against it were ignoramuses who belong in prison. Perhaps Zeman no longer cares about his voters. Or perhaps he realizes that for his slight favorite, Andrej Babiš, to win the presidential race next year, a few percentage points of Babiš's 30% base must be sacrificed so that another illiberal candidate, such as SPD Chair Tomio Okamura, can make it into the second round. [ Czech Republic approval president Pirates ]