He unsuccessfully run for a seat in the Czech Parliament in 2002 but won that seat in 2006 and became a member of the lower chamber of the Czech Parliament for the Czech Social Democratic Party (ČSSD).
2002. godine neuspješno se kandidirao za mjesto u Češkom parlamentu, ali je 4 godine kasnije uspio u tome i postao zastupnik Češke socijaldemokratske partije (ČSSD) u donjem domu.