If Pres. Petr Pavel was the leader of the Czech opposition, who will it be now that Pavel's reputation has been tarnished by his decision to spend election weekend motorbiking in Morocco? Josef Koukal of Právo, which helped to put Pavel high on a pedestal, wrote today that the halo over Pavel's head is crashing to the ground. When certain members of ODS decided that it was time for Václav Klaus to go, they orchestrated a "Sarajevo assassination." ČSSD snubbed Miloš Zeman in the 2003 presidential elections. Martin Kupka of ODS twisted Petr Fiala's arm. The result in such situations wasn't always new leadership, but the opportunity for new leadership to come forward was indeed created. Petr Pavel's inexplicable decision to make elections his third priority creates just such an opportunity for STAN Chair Vít Rakušan. His party is rising in the polls and has big plans both in Prague and on the national level, and yet the biggest obstacle to further consolidation of the opposition under Rakušan isn't Kupka or a STAN faction, but Pavel. And now the president is voluntarily stepping aside.