Waiting for Zeman
After leading ANO to a strong second-place finish in this weekend's elections, Andrej Babiš said repeatedly yesterday that it's now Miloš Zeman's move. Zeman made his first move today by appearing on Czech TV's OVM debate show from the Castle by satellite. Viewers who were able to look past Zeman's slurred words and twitching left eye heard the president say that he will grant Bohuslav Sobotka's request for a meeting, very likely in the coming week. Sobotka led ČSSD to a Pyrrhic victory and is now at the mercy of Zeman and Babiš in terms of whether he will be able to form a government. The big question remains whether Zeman wants to exact his long-brewing revenge on Sobotka by not allowing him to become PM at all or by ushering him in now and then finding a way to run him out of office in a year or so. The other big question of these elections is how much Babiš is going to assist Zeman in this.
Glossary of difficult words
to look past something - to ignore or disregard something;to slur - to speak indistinctly so that that sounds run into one another;
to twitch - to give or cause to give a short, sudden jerking or convulsive movement;
to exact - to inflict (revenge) on someone;
to usher in - to show or guide (someone) somewhere.