Candidates in Czech presidential election

The candidates in the Czech presidential elections

_ VACLAV KLAUS: The incumbent, 66, replaced Vaclav Havel in February 2003. An economist, Klaus was Czechoslovakia's first post-communist finance minister and served as Czech prime minister after the country split into the Czech Republic and Slovakia in 1993. From 1998 to 2002, he served as parliamentary speaker. He is credited with introducing market reforms. A Euroskeptic, Klaus warns that excess regulation by Brussels may suppress competition and make Europe less prosperous. Klaus disputes assertions that human activity is to blame for climate change and says measures to stop it would devastate national economies. He is married to an economist and has two sons.

_ JAN SVEJNAR: Svejnar 55, is an economics professor at the University of Michigan. Born in Czechoslovakia, he fled the communist regime at age 17, and received U.S. citizenship in 1981. His Czech citizenship, revoked when he fled, was returned in 2001. He served as an economic adviser to Havel and is not a member of any Czech political party. Svejnar established an economic institute in Prague in the 1990s, and has been a consultant to the World Bank. He favors further European Union integration and the quick adoption of the euro currency. Svejnar is married to an economist and has a daughter and a son.

_ JANA BOBOSIKOVA: Bobosikova, 43, a former TV journalist, was elected to the European Parliament as an independent in 2004. She served briefly as an adviser to incumbent President Vaclav Klaus. She currently heads a fringe party, Politika 21. Bobosikova made headlines as chief of Czech Television news in 2001 when she was forced to leave after massive street rallies protested alleged government influence in the public station. She is an outspoken critic of the EU and a supporter of nuclear energy. She is married with two daughters.