Vaclav Havel, playwright and hero of the democracy movement during the communist regime in Czechoslovakia, bid farewell to public life on Sunday after 13 years as a democratic head of state.
In a special television address, the president thanked his people for their trust, saying, "Without your understanding and goodwill I would not have been able to stay in office for even a few moments."
Havel, who braved the stresses of high office despite serious health problems, stepped down as president of the Czech Republic even though a successor has not yet been found.
Speaking earlier from the same balcony of Prague Castle from which he first addressed crowds on assuming office on Dec. 29 1989, he thanked hundreds of well-wishers: "I say farewell to you after 13 years as president."
The 66 year-old dissident writer turned world statesman symbolized the victory of democracy over totalitarianism in Europe.
Havel, who spent time in communist jails as a political prisoner, became president of what was then Czechoslovakia after the "velvet revolution" that toppled the communist regime.
Three years later the country split into the Czech Republic and Slovakia, and Havel remained head of state of the now independent Czech half.
On Sunday he handed over the seals of office to Prime Minister Vladimir Spidla and Lower House Speaker Lubomir Zao-ralek, both set yesterday to share temporary presidential powers pending the election of a successor.
Parliament met in historic session last month to choose a new president but failed despite two votes on Jan. 15 and Jan. 24.
On Sunday, Spidla stressed that experts had not found anything that could cause constitutional problems during the interim period pending the appointment of a new president.
Zaoralek said the powers would be "in trust," to be handed over to a new president as quickly as possible.
Havel told television viewers the failure to find a successor was "tiresome, but it is no great disaster."
His successor would lead the country in less agitated but by no means uninteresting times, he said. "Quite the reverse: only the time which is now at hand will truly show the extent to which we are a full-fledged part of the democratic world," Havel said.
During Havel's term of office the Czech Republic joined the NATO alliance together with other former Soviet bloc states Hungary and Poland, and like them is scheduled to join the European Union in 2004.
In his television address Havel recalled the difficulties of the years of reconstruction after communism, "It is easy to destroy the fine web of civic institutions and relations that developed over the long decades, to place everything under state control and to subject the life of the entire country to a single political entity," he said.
"But it has been extremely challenging and time-consuming to put everything together again after those decades when time stood still -- just as it would certainly take a lot longer to restore a piece of antique furniture than it would to kick it to pieces."
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique