Gloves Come Off in Handling of a Czech Icon

President Vaclav Havel, the former dissident writer who helped topple communism here in the 1989 “Velvet Revolution,” has fallen--or been pushed--off his pedestal.

“President Havel walks a sad road, from a politician who is a favorite, who is admired, sometimes even idolized, to a politician who is misunderstood, rejected and sometimes even condemned and damned,” the newspaper Mlada Fronta Dnes said in a typical recent commentary.

Havel’s popularity ratings in opinion polls soared in the 70% to 80% range throughout the early and mid-1990s. Yet in a survey last month by IVVM, a leading Czech polling firm, just 46% of respondents expressed confidence in his leadership.

Havel advisor Jiri Pehe, in a view shared by many supporters of the president, says rivals seem to be encouraging criticism of Havel in hopes that he will quit the prestigious but largely ceremonial post before his five-year term ends in 2003.

That could open the door for conservative former Prime Minister Vaclav Klaus, leader of the opposition Civic Democratic Party, to strike a deal with the ruling Social Democrats for the presidency. The political balance in parliament, which chooses the president, might be less favorable for Klaus in 2003.

“If Vaclav Klaus wants to become the next president, he knows the best chance . . . is now,” Pehe said.

While down from his peak of popularity, Havel retains many fervent fans.

Jirina Siklova, a sociologist at Charles University here, said half-jokingly but with an undertone of seriousness that “the Czech Republic’s two economic assets are the Charles Bridge and Vaclav Havel.” The historic bridge is a key tourist attraction, and Havel is one of Europe’s most respected statesmen.

“It’s absolute nonsense and stupidity on the part of the politicians if they manage to get rid of Havel and he resigns,” Siklova said. “He’s too great a personality for them to liquidate him in such a pettifogging way.”

Yet Havel has made missteps. One, even many supporters agree, was to file an invasion-of-privacy lawsuit in response to an expose-style book published last year.

Also, many Czechs have never fully accepted Havel’s second marriage, to actress Dagmar Veskrnova, which came slightly less than a year after the 1996 death of his revered first wife, Olga.

Poor health is a key reason some people question whether the 62-year-old president should remain in office. He had part of a lung removed in 1996 because of cancer, then had two brushes with death last year from a ruptured colon and pneumonia.

In a recent interview in the daily newspaper Pravo, Havel blamed much of his declining popularity on “strategies” of other politicians and the “peculiar herd instincts of our media.”

“What also cannot be neglected is an accumulating feeling of ‘being tired of Havel,’ ” he added. “I have been so long at the head of state . . . and for so long I was an object of almost uncritical homage. This had to be broken eventually.”

The pendulum began to swing with publication of “Seven Weeks Which Shook the Castle,” a look at problems afflicting Havel during the period of his cancer operation.

Havel’s lawsuit names as defendants not only the author but also a leading television station and newspaper--TV Nova and Lidove Noviny--that repeated some of the allegations. In the lawsuit, Havel charged that the book contained “information grossly distorting the truth and at the same time inadmissibly interfering in the private and family life of the plaintiff.”

Havel’s criticism of the media may have backfired. TV Nova and Lidove Noviny have been especially harsh on Havel in recent months. Typical of the attacks was a recent cartoon in Lidove Noviny showing the Statue of Liberty with a huge crack in it, published next to a photo of Havel and his second wife.

The dual caption read: “Havel married couple and half-broken Statue of Liberty. The suit which the lawyers of the presidential pair filed against the author of the scandalous ‘Seven Weeks’ and above all against some Czech media could lead to the limitation of freedom of the press. However, it could damage the president himself.”

Yet on another level, Havel has been hurt by disappointment over the results of nearly a decade of democracy and capitalism, Pehe said.

“The president is not doing anything radically different,” the advisor explained. “What is decreasing is the general trust of the people in democratic politics. There is growing disgust with politicians and how politics is practiced in this country, and he cannot be spared.”