- PRAGUE: Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg has become the first person to declare his candidacy in the Czech Republic’s next presidential election.
Schwarzenberg that he would stand during Saturday’s congress of his conservative TOP 09 party in Hradec Kralove, east of Prague.
The 73-year-old, who is a member of a European noble family, lived in exile on his family’s estates in Austria and Germany during the communist rule in Czechoslovakia from 1948 until 1989. After the Velvet Revolution, he became chancellor to President Vaclav Havel.
He served as foreign minister between 2007-09 and again took the post after last year’s general elections.
The presidential elections are scheduled for early 2013 after the second and final term of President Vaclav Klaus expires.