Senators will apparently vote today to partially dismantle thepolitical-party structure in the country by giving the peoplethe right to elect their president. Two of the leading potentialcandidates don't have direct party affiliation (Jan Fischer andJan Švejnar) but are trying to play it both ways by remainingindependent and seeking party backing at the same time.This would split their allegiances but keep them at least partlybeholden to a political party. A bigger threat to the partysystem could come from tourism specialist Tomio Okamura,if he decided to run, or Senator Jiří Dienstbier if (as is rumored)he dared to give ČSSD the finger and ride his wave ofpopularity as the Newt Gingrich or Ron Paul candidate whodoesn't rely on the party Establishment. Both Okamura andDienstbier could probably gather the 50,000 signatures neededto bypass the political parties. One has to wonder whetherthe party bosses fully understand what they're getting themselvesinto by approving direct presidential elections.