Pavel Bém

Infobox Mayor | Pavel Bém


order = 19^th
office = Chief magistrate of the Capital City of Prague
term_start = November 28, 2002
term_end =
predecessor = Igor Němec
successor =
spouse = Radmila Bémová
birth_date = birth date and age | 1963 | 07 | 18
birth_place = Prague
party = ODS - Civic Democratic Party
website = http://www.pavelbem.cz
children = 2 - Jáchym, Matouš
alma_mater = 1^st Medical Faculty of the Charles University in Prague

Pavel Bém (born July 18, 1963) is a Czech doctor and politician. Since November 28, 2002, he has served as the Mayor of the Capital City of Prague, re-elected 2006. On November 19, 2006, he was elected Deputy Leader of the Civic Democratic Party.

Bém studied medicine at the Charles University in Prague, specializing in psychiatry and subsequently devoted most of his medical career to the treatment of drug addiction. He served on a government anti-narcotics commission. A member of the Civic Democratic Party, since 1998 he has been mayor of the 6th district of Prague and since 2002 has become the mayor of the entire city of Prague. Skilled in dealing with media, he presents himself as a "hands-on reformer" and being tough on corruption. Evidence of which is hard to find. In fact, surveys consistently show that Prague citizens view their city government as extremely corrupt and many claim to have experienced this first hand. Before he became Prime Minister, CSSD leader Jiri Paroubek served as Bem's Deputy Mayor and was in charge of contracts at City Hall. Bem has never expressed any reservations with Paroubek's controversial tenure in this post. He is sometimes mentioned in consideration as a possible future leader of his party and in 2006 is is believed that President Vaclav Klaus attempted to maneouvre Bem into the job as a replacement for ODS leader Topolanek, who is not viewed as close to Klaus. Bem has many interests besides his political career, including mountain climbing, sea diving, and playing the piano. On May 18th 2007, Bem fulfilled his "boyhood dream" of reaching the peak of Mt. Everest [http://www.indianmuslims.info/news/2007/may/20/two_czechs_conquer_mount_everest_another_dies.html] .

External links

* [http://www.pavelbem.cz/ Official website (English version also present)]
* [http://www.ods.cz/eng/ Civic Democratic Party] (in English)