CZECH REPUBLIC: Czech President Vaclav Havel yesterday stepped down as head of state in a day marked by ceremonies and parades.
Mr Havel (66), the former dissident playwright, met with Prime Minister Vladimir Spidla and the speaker of the lower chamber of parliament, Mr Lubomir Zaoralek. The two men took over most of the presidential powers from midnight, as parliament struggles to pick a new head of state.
Mr Havel said he was saddened that two deadlocked votes had failed to find his successor but said it was not a catastrophe although the country must have a new president soon.
Earlier yesterday, Mr Havel toured the capital, Prague, to lay wreaths in two cemeteries to commemorate those who died under communist rule or as political prisoners.
He also attended a military parade of about 150 members of the presidential guard and a farewell ceremony, organised despite the falling snow in the presidential seat of Hradcany Castle, attended by hundreds of Czechs and foreign tourists.
Havel is the only president that post-Cold-War Czechoslovakia and then the new Czech Republic created in 1993, has known. He is stepping down after serving the constitutional limit of two terms.