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

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STAT	Czech Republic	India	HISTORY
Head of state > Term limit for head of state	5 Ranked 68th. The same as India	5 Ranked 71st.
President	Milos Zeman	Pranab Mukherjee
Prime Minister	Bohuslav Sobotka	Manmohan Singh
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>Mr Singh became prime minister in May 2004 after the Congress Party&#039;s unexpected success in general elections. </p> <p>The party&#039;s president, Sonia Gandhi, the widow of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, shocked her supporters by declining the top post, apparently to protect the party from damaging attacks over her Italian origin. </p><p>Mr Singh said his priorities were to reduce poverty and to plough on with economic reforms. He stated a desire for friendly relations with India&#039;s neighbours, especially Pakistan. </p> <p>During his first year in office he held together a coalition which included communist allies and ministers accused of corruption. He continued to pursue market-friendly economic policies and oversaw the introduction of nuclear non-proliferation legislation. </p> <p>But his promised &quot;New Deal&quot; for rural India - an attempt to raise the poorest citizens out of poverty - has still to bear fruit, and by 2011 he was facing demands for inquiries into a series of financial scandals.</p> <p>Though Mr Singh has repeatedly promised a crackdown on corruption, his critics say that the accumulation of graft scandals points to a pervasive culture of corruption in his administration.</p> <p>His government also came under intense pressure after the Mumbai attacks of November 2008, which left nearly 200 people dead and prompted a storm of criticism of security arrangements. </p> <p>However, Mr Singh&#039;s Congress-led coalition then went on to score an emphatic victory at general elections in April and May 2009, coming within 11 seats of winning an absolute majority in parliament. </p> <p>The emphatic defeat of the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) confounded predictions of a close contest. </p> <p>While still needing the support of some smaller parties, the government looked to be in a much stronger position to pursue economic reforms, particularly against opposition from the left. </p> <p>Mr Singh made his reputation as a finance minister in the early 1990s, under the Narasimha Rao government, when he was the driving force behind economic liberalisation. </p> <p>A Sikh born in West Punjab, Mr Singh is a former International Monetary Fund official and governor of India&#039;s Central Bank. He was educated at Oxford and Cambridge. </p>
Prime Minister > Summary	Mr Sobotka has vowed to reverse the eurosceptic course of previous Czech governments	Manmohan Singh initiated economic reforms in the 1990s

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