Opposition parties back senate candidacy of ex-diplomat

Michael Žantovský, a former senator, ambassador to Washington and London, and current director of the Václav Havel Library, is running for a seat in the upper house of Parliament, representing Prague 5.

Žantovský is the joint candidate of three opposition parties – the Civic Democrats, TOP 09, and the Party of Mayors and Independents. He is due to officially launch his candidacy on Wednesday.

A psychologist by education, under communism he was a freelance translator of modern Anglo-American prose, poetry and drama. He was a co-founder of the Civic Forum and later became President Václav Havel’s press secretary and spokesman.