Petr Pithart

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Petr Pithart (born January 2, 1941 in Kladno) is a Czech politician, lawyer and political scientist.

He served as Prime Minister of the Czech Republic, (then part of Czechoslovakia,) from February 6, 1990 to July 2, 1992 and twice as chairman of the Senate of the Parliament of the Czech Republic: from December 18, 1996 to December 16, 1998 and from December 19, 2000 to December 15, 2004.

[edit] Political career

Pithart was member of Communist Party of Czechoslovakia before 1968 and later one of the most prominent dissidents against the communist regime. He was imprisoned for this activity including being one of the first signatories of Charter 77. In 1989 he was one of the prominent leaders of the Civic Forum founded at the start of the overthrow of the regime. Having participated in the negotiations which led to the change of the federal, Czech and Slovak governments, he was appointed Prime Minister of the Czech National Council.

Pithart is viewed by many an indecisive philosopher and thinker, rather than a tactical or charismatic leader. While his 1990-92 Czech government is believed to have been extremely effective, he was not capable of either understanding or dealing with the actions of his Minister for Finance Václav Klaus. An example of this was how Klaus used his power to ensure personal promotion (for example having his photopgraph and signature printed on government documents sent to all citizens) and major funding for his new party Civic Democratic Party.

His career in politics has involved many defeats. He failed to stop the dissolution of Czechoslovakia, failed to prevent large scale asset stripping (tunelování) during privatization in the 90's, and his political party (Občanské Hnutí) subsequently disappeared. Finally, he failed in his bid to become President of the Czech Republic in 2004, losing to rival Vaclav Klaus in large part because of his unwillingness to do a deal with the Communist Party - a barrier which the more strindently public anti-communist Klaus had no difficulty ignoring or, subsequently, refusing to discuss.

Pithart is, however, the only politician in the post-1989 history of Czechoslovakia or the Czech Republic who has ever managed to bring a corruption case to court (after the CEO of a bank tried to bribe him in order to get lucrative property). This is seen as a demonstration of his absolute personal honesty - a trait not shared by many other, more successful, Czech politicians.

He is currently a member of the KDU-ČSL party and is first Deputy Chairperson of the Senate of the Parliament of the Czech Republic.