Miloš Zeman

Miloš Zeman (born 28 September 1944 in Kolín) is the president-elect of the Czech Republic. He served as the Prime Minister of the Czech Republic from 1998 to 2002. He was also leader of the Czech Social Democratic Party and served as Chairman of the Chamber of Deputies, the lower house of the Czech parliament, from 1996 to 1998. He was a frequent rival of Václav Klaus. Zeman transformed a weak Czech Social Democratic Party into one of the country's major parties along with the Civic Democratic Party. On 26 January, 2013, he was elected the President of the Czech Republic. His term will begin in March 2013.

 

In April 2001, he was replaced by Vladimír Špidla as party leader. Zeman then retired and moved to live in the countryside (Vysočina Region). His nomination for Czech president failed at the 2003 presidential election (to Václav Klaus), due to party disunity. Zeman became an outspoken critic of former party's leaders.

He is known for his sharp, even insulting, speeches and wit.

He left the Czech Social Democratic Party on 21 March 2007 due to conflicts with the then leader and chairman of the Czech Social Democratic Party Jiří Paroubek. Zeman has a similar view on global warming as his former opponent Klaus. According to his opinion, human activity probably could not influence global warming.

In October 2009, he founded the Party of Civic Rights – Zemanovci.

In June 2011, Zeman, referring to Islam, said "The enemy is the anti-civilisation spreading from North Africa to Indonesia. Two billion people live in it." He likened Muslims who believe in the Qur'an to antisemitic and racist Nazis. A complaint was lodged against him following the comments.

From: www.wikipedia.org