Czech President Faces a Runoff After First Round of Voting
13, 2018
PRAGUE — President Milos Zeman of the Czech Republic failed to win re-election in the first round of a presidential vote on Saturday
and will face a runoff in two weeks against the former president of the country’s Academy of Sciences.
Mr. Zeman and the runner-up in the first round, Jiri Drahos, advanced to a second round of voting
because none of the nine candidates seeking the country’s largely ceremonial presidency received a majority of votes in the initial round, held on Friday and Saturday.
Mr. Zeman, 73, a former prime minister, was elected in 2013 during the country’s first direct presidential vote.
Drahos said that he would like to meet me face to face," the president said.
With almost all the ballots counted by the Czech Statistics Office, Mr. Zeman had 38.6 percent of the vote compared with 26.6 for Mr. Drahos.
Mr. Zeman congratulated Mr. Drahos and said he was ready to debate him before the runoff vote, which begins on Jan. 26.
