ČSSD's presidential trap

At the drop of a hat, Sen. Jaroslav Kubera of ODS can decide to run for president. He has the necessary support in the upper house and doesn't need the 50,000 signatures required of an independent candidate. The announced independent candidates (Drahoš, Horáček, Zeman, etc.) are working on their petitions and must submit them at least 66 days before the election, which must come 30-60 days before Miloš Zeman's term expires on March 7. Counting backwards, this means that the nominations and signatures must be submitted sometime between Nov. 7 and Nov. 28. Parliamentary elections are on Oct. 20-21, and Bohuslav Sobotka has said that ČSSD will announce its preferred candidate afterwards. He has also said that none of the existing candidates is sufficiently left-liberal. Unless a new left-liberal independent candidate shows up lickety-split, ČSSD will have little choice but to back one of these "unsuitable" candidates in Nov., or find its own Jaroslav Kubera.