Government > Leaders Stats: compare key data on Czech Republic & Poland

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STAT	Czech Republic	Poland	HISTORY
Head of state > Term limit for head of state	5 Ranked 68th. The same as Poland	5 Ranked 34th.
President	Milos Zeman	Bronislaw Komorowski
President > Profile	<p>Former prime minister Milos Zeman won the first direct Czech presidential election in January 2013, beating conservative Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg by a margin of 55% to 45%.</p> <p>Unlike his predecessor, the notoriously euro-sceptic Vaclav Klaus, Mr Zeman describes himself as a euro-federalist and is an advocate of closer European integration, though he believes that the Czech Republic should take its time over joining the euro.</p> <p>Like Mr Klaus, Mr Zeman thrives on confrontation and is keen to exercise his presidential powers to the full, even if this means entering into conflict with the Czech government.</p> <p>His appointment of a close ally, Jiri Rusnok, as prime minister following the resignation of Petr Necas in June 2013 met with the fierce opposition of the main political parties, who accused him of staging a power-grab.</p> <p>Mr Zeman&#039;s critics said that the move undermined democracy and accused him of trying to introduce a semi-presidential system, which one outgoing minister from the Necas government described as &quot;Putinesque&quot;. </p> <p>Mr Zeman effectively retired from politics in 2003, after failing to beat Mr Klaus in the election to succeed Vaclav Havel as president. Even his own Social Democratic party split over whether to back him. </p> <p>Political analysts attribute his spectacular comeback to his harnessing of discontent among older and poorer voters with the Necas government&#039;s handling of the economic downturn.</p> <p>In his younger days, he was frequently dismissed from various posts because of his criticism of the Communist system&#039;s economic failings, and played a prominent part in the Civic Forum movement that helped oust the pro-Soviet government in 1989. </p> <p>He rose to be Social Democratic prime minister in 1998-2002, but quit the party after his presidential election humiliation the following year. He now leads the small social-democratic Party of Civic Rights, which does not have any seats in parliament.</p>	<p>Bronislaw Komorowski, the speaker of parliament, became acting president on the death of President Lech Kaczynski in a plane crash in April 2010. He defeated Mr Kaczynski&#039;s twin brother and former prime minister, Jaroslaw, in the July second round of the presidential election.</p> <p>A leading figure in the centre-right Civic Platform party, Mr Komorowski has served in several post-Communist governments since 1989, including a term as defence minister in 2000-2001.</p> <p>He became speaker in 2007, and Civic Platform adopted him as its candidate for the presidential elections due in the autumn of 2010. These were brought forward to June-July on the death of President Kaczynski.</p> <p>Born in 1952 and an historian by profession, Mr Komorowski was active in the anti-Communist civil rights movement from the 1970s.</p>
President > Summary	President Zeman has been accused of attempting to undermine the Czech parliamentary system	President Komorowski was active in the civil rights movement in the 1970s
Prime Minister	Bohuslav Sobotka	Donald Tusk
Prime Minister > Profile	<p>Social Democratic party leader Bohuslav Sobotka was formally appointed as prime minister by President Zeman in January 2014, almost three months after an early election in October 2013 that was triggered by the fall of the centre-right government led by Petr Necas in June.</p><p>Following the abrupt departure of Mr Necas - who had become embroiled in a spying, sex and bribery scandal - President Zeman appointed his former economic adviser, Jiri Rusnok, to head a government of experts.</p> <p>However, Mr Rusnok&#039;s administration was deeply resented by the main political parties, who contended that the president&#039;s action was intended to undermine the authority of parliament, and after the new caretaker government failed to win a confidence vote in August, MPs voted to dissolve parliament, paving the way for the October election.</p> <p>The Social Democrats emerged from these elections as the party with the greatest number of votes, but not enough to govern on its own. Following protracted efforts to assemble a viable government, the Social Democrats reached a framework coalition agreement with two other parties - the pro-business ANO party led by billionaire Andrej Babis and the Christian Democrats - in December.</p> <p>Talks on the allocation of ministerial portfolios were further complicated by President Zeman&#039;s insistence on being consulted, and by the fact that Mr Sobotka belongs to the Social Democrat faction that parted company with Mr Zeman in the early 2000s. </p> <p>Analysts attribute Mr Zeman&#039;s apparent foot-dragging over the confirmation of Mr Sobotka as prime minister to deep-rooted tensions between the two men.</p> <p>The normally mild-mannered Mr Sobotka stood his ground, declaring that he would be prepared to go to the constitutional court if the president attempted to block his cabinet appointments.</p> <p>He has also indicated that his government will prepare constitutional changes designed to curb the president&#039;s powers.</p> <p>On his appointment, Mr Sobotka pledged to end the political gridlock that had paralysed policy making for seven months and revive economic growth following the country&#039;s longest recession on record.</p> <p>He has promised to boost the economy by reversing what he has described as the former centre-right government&#039;s &quot;deadly spiral&quot; of austerity measures.</p> <p>However, his social spending plans may meet with opposition from the Social Democrats&#039; coalition partners.</p> <p>The new Czech prime minister is also keen for the country to play a fuller role in EU politics, after the eurosceptic course pursued by centre-right governments for most of the previous decade. </p> <p>Mr Sobotka was born in the Moravian village of Telnice in 1971. A trained lawyer, he has been a member of parliament since 1996 and served as finance minister in 2002-6. He joined the Social Democrats in 1989 and has led the party since 2011.</p>	<p>The governing coalition led by Mr Tusk won a decisive victory in the October 2011 parliamentary election, putting him on course to serve a second term as prime minister.</p><p>His campaign had stressed his reputation as a safe pair of hands and a competent manager of the Polish economy.</p> <p>It was the first time an incumbent government was returned to office for another term since the reintroduction of democracy in 1989. Analysts said the result was a sign of Poland&#039;s growing political stability after two decades of fractious politics.</p> <p>Mr Tusk became PM when he formed a coalition between his centre-right Civic Platform and the centrist Peasants Party after the parliamentary elections of October 2007.</p> <p>The early elections were forced by the collapse of the right-wing coalition led by Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the identical twin of the then president Lech Kaczynski.</p> <p>In his first term, Mr Tusk&#039;s government pursued a policy of close cooperation with the European Union. It also sought to use EU funds modernise Poland and privatise state enterprises.</p> <p>Mr Tusk advocates deeper EU integration and eventual euro membership for Poland.</p>
Prime Minister > Summary	Mr Sobotka has vowed to reverse the eurosceptic course of previous Czech governments	Donald Tusk is serving his second term as premier

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