Tattooed artist challenges politicians for Czech presidency

An eccentric artist with a tattooed face, an aristocrat and a master statistician are among candidates vying for the Czech presidency in a first direct election scheduled for January. As the candidate registration deadline expired at 1500 GMT on Tuesday, a total of 11 people appeared to have garnered the required support: signatures from 10 senators, 20 lower-house lawmakers or 50,000 citizens. The new president will be the third since the country became independent in 1993, when the former Czechoslovakia split in two. Its first leader was the widely respected anti-communist playwright-turned-president Vaclav Havel, who died last year. The January victor will replace President Vaclav Klaus, a controversial eurosceptic whose second and last term ends in March. Both he and Havel were elected by parliament. January's election will be the first time the EU member state's 10.5 million people choose their head of state by public ballot. Former non-partisan prime minister Jan Fischer is tipped as the odds-on favourite with 35.5-percent support, according to a Median agency survey in October. Once the republic's chief statistician, Fischer was prime minister from 2009 to 2010. Former social democrat prime minister Milos Zeman, who led the country in from 1998 to 2002, came second in the survey with 21.5-percent support. Both Fischer and Zeman were members of the Communist Party that ruled Czechoslovakia from 1948 to 1989. But in an October Internet survey, all were overshadowed by Vladimir Franz, an eccentric drama professor, artist and composer. Franz, whose body is completely covered with colourful tattoos and piercings, led the survey with 63.3 percent of "positive mentions" online, according to Captaworks, which compiled popularity figures by comparing 82,000 entries in discussions on news servers, blogs and social networks. He has also garnered nearly 40,000 "likes" in a Facebook campaign that began as a joke. The 53-year-old has composed music for more than 140 theatre performances and several pieces of classical music. His candidacy was triggered by a viral Facebook joke casting the dour Klaus as a "blue president", referencing the traditional colour of Czech conservatives. Franz's blue-tattooed face was set next to Klaus's picture with the same caption. Blue-blooded aristocrat and current Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg, former Senate chairman Premysl Sobotka and Tokyo-born businessman and Senator Tomio Okamura have also thrown their hats in the presidential ring. The candidate list also includes three women, charity-focused actress Tana Fischerova, European Parliament member Zuzana Roithova and former MEP Jana Bobosikova. The first round of the vote is scheduled for January 11-12 next year. If no one wins over 50 percent, a second-tier run-off will follow on January 25-26.