Czech president leads voting, but will face runoff election
PRAGUE, Czech Republic — Czech President Milos Zeman failed to win re-election during the first round of a presidential election Saturday and will face a runoff in two weeks against the former head of the country’s Academy of Sciences.
Zeman and Jiri Drahos advanced to a second round of voting because none of the nine candidates seeking the Czech Republic’s largely ceremonial presidency received a majority of votes in the first round held Friday and Saturday.
However, with almost all ballots counted by the Czech Statistics Office, Zeman had 38.6 per cent of the vote, a commanding lead over Drahos’ 26.6 per cent.
A former diplomat, Pavel Fischer, was a distant third with 10.2 per cent. Songwriter Michal Horacek finished fourth with 9.2 per cent, ahead of physician Marek Hilser, who had 8.8 per cent. The three pledged their support to Drahos in the runoff.