PRAGUE, January 21: Czech President Vaclav Havel was re-elected for a second five-year term on Tuesday, but only after being forced to go through a second round of voting by Deputies, the Speaker of the Czech Parliament announced.The 61-year-old former dissident playwright was returned to office with 99 votes from the 197 deputies present, and 47 out of the 81 Senators, giving him the majority needed in the two Houses of Parliament, said Milos Zeman.Havel's re-election was seen as aimed at keeping the country on track to join the European mainstream, despite political and economic turmoil at home.Earlier Havel, who led the 1989 Velvet Revolution in Czechoslovakia, had failed to garner the majority required in a first round of voting, winning 91 votes in the 200-member Lower House and 39 in the 80-seat Senate.He had been widely expected to be re-elected, five years after he became president of the Czech Republic following its split from Slovakia at the end of 1992.Havel retains enormous popularity among Czechs. "President Havel is good for our country. He helps us to be noticed by other countries. He is a good man," says Jana Levy, a 24-year-old economics student.The vote, by secret ballot, was preceded by a debate in the ornate Spanish Hall of Prague Castle. A minority of speakers opposed him but most sung the praises of the 61-year-old President.Two marginal candidates were standing against him: A far-right leader, Miroslav Sladek, currently in jail charged with inciting racial hatred, and Stanislav Fischer, a 62-year-old astrophysician supported by Communists.The vote comes amid political turmoil after the collapse of former Premier - and long-term Havel rival - Vaclav Klaus's Government last month. Havel was standing for re-election only months after fighting lung cancer and pneumonia.Analysts said Havel's failure to win a majority in the first round of voting on Tuesday evening was at least in part to protest votes by Deputies loyal to Klaus, and angered by Havel's criticism of Klaus.Prague's plans to join the European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) may not be in serious jeopardy, but Havel is all too aware of the need for stability if the country is to continue the remarkable transition which he has spearheaded.The Czech Republic has been in political turmoil since Klaus was forced to resign on November 30 amid a party funding scandal.The crisis took another twist only on Monday when caretaker Premier Josef Tosovsky threatened to resign, to protest obstructionism by Klaus over a date for new legislative elections.Tosovsky would like them to be held on June 19, but his Government faces a parliamentary confidence vote on January 27, and if it loses he could be forced to hold elections earlier.The current political limbo follows an economic crisis last year which forced the devaluation of the Czech Koruna. The country has also seen a record increase in unemployment.
