THE POLITICAL THRILLER which has been in the writing for the past several months and which is known under its formal name presidential election is heading towards its climax this week.
Friday will see the commencement of a joint session of the two chambers that make the Czech parliament with the only point on the agenda: to elect the new head of state.
Never before in the nation's history has it been so difficult to predict its outcome. Perhaps it helps to justify or at least explain the level of nervousness in the top echelons of power which manifested itself on Sunday with the Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek leaving a lunch-time debate on public TV half-way through the program.
Before disappearing during the break, Mr. Topolánek accused professor of economy Jan Švejnar, who is challenging the incumbent president and PM's own Civic Democratic Party (ODS) founder and chairman emeritus Václav Klaus in the election, of running his campaign on dirty money. He hinted at Mr. Švejnar's previous stint on the board of ČSOB bank, which has unfinished business with the state.
Leaders of the Green Party and Social Democratic Party (ČSSD) which have pledged to support Mr. Švejnar in the election called the suggestion absurd and the presidential candidate himself later told Czech TV that the Prime Minister should either back his claims with proofs or apologize.
Allegations of political corruption related to the upcoming election are also leveled against ODS by some, who see the recent passing of a draft bill on the financial settlement between the state and churches as no more then vote-buying trick by ODS to placate its junior coalition partner, Christian Democratic Party (KDU-ČSL). Both parties deny any such deal had been sealed.
Last week also saw Mr. Švejnar and Mr. Klaus come face to face for the first time at a hearing in the Senate, for which they were invited by the Social Democratic faction in the upper house. In front of the cameras which brought the whole spectacle live on TV for the whole nation to see the two were often in each other's hair. The media later called the "debate" a draw, while both sides insisted on winning.
It did little to change the lawmakers' mind and one can only guess whether Friday will really bring this country a new president or whether the show will go on with none of the candidates able to secure the necessary support in both houses of the parliament.
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While some politicians turned into a bundle of nerves last week, others had a reason to audibly exhale and celebrate, perhaps most notably the former Deputy PM and Christian Democratic Party leader Jiří Čunek.
State prosecutor announced he no longer had a reason to believe that Mr. Čunek violated law in the 1990s when he was allegedly receiving social welfare while at the same time depositing millions in his ban accounts.
It is very likely this will now prompt Mr. Čunek and his party to demand that he be returned to the cabinet which he had voluntarily left when the investigation into his affair was started last year.
The third member of the coalition, the Green Party, is known to have serious reservations about such possibility as it had threatened to withdraw its ministers from the cabinet in case of Mr. Čunek's return.
Another disgraced politician, former Prime Minister Stanislav Gross, also found some consolation last week when the police decided there was nothing criminal about his role in a share transaction deal which aroused suspicions of possible money-laundering.
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While politicians are getting off the hook left and right, the state and private companies are now coming to realize there is somebody else to contend with, apparently much tougher than police.
That person is the Czech Republic's first Ombudsman Otakar Motejl who recently proved his fierce independence by clamping down on the corruption-inducing visa system used at the Czech embassy in Vietnam and the abuse of Polish workers taking place in the heart of the Czech industry's showcase, car manufacturing giant Škoda.
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Two weeks ago BBC shamed the Czech Republic by exposing the continuous use of cage-beds in some of the local social care homes. While the Minister of Labour and Social Affairs exploded in a fit of rage and called the British investigative reporters deceitful and manipulative, Aktuálně.cz had a better idea and sent two of our reporters across the channel to see what gives Britons the right to lecture others. Turns out we could learn a thing or two from the UK. Inspirational reading, highly recommended.
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As if there has not been enough international criticism lately of the "Earthly Paradise" that is the Czech Republic, the wily European Parliament dared to censure us once again over the infamous pig farm in Lety near Písek, some 80 kilometres south of Prague.
It is not the quality of the pork the MEPs are concerned about, but the fact that the hog-pen stands in the very place of a former World War Two-era concentration camp, where Nazis had people of Roma ethnicity interned.
The European Parliament suggested to replace the pig farm with a memorial to the victims of Nazi persecution. Needless to say it didn't go down well with some Czech MEPs who felt their country was being unjustifiably singled out.
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To help undo the harm which the international profile of the Czech Republic suffered in the course of this weekly review, we'll end on a positive note and highlight what has long been considered one of the prime assets this land is know for, namely, the good looks of its women.
The winner of a beauty contest Česká Miss was crowned on Saturday (by the French actor Alain Delon, no less). Her name is Eliška Boučková, she is 18 and comes from Strážnice, a town in Hodonín region of Moravia.
The best news is there is going to be another similar pageant next month, Miss České republiky, which claims to be the official beauty contest of this country. Very good! Monopolies are always bad and competition is needed, all the more so when it comes to such laudable activities as gazing at skimpy-clad girls. For the sake of charity, of course.
