Miloš Zeman, a former Prime Minister of the Czech Republic, has been elected as the country’s third president. Mr Zeman (pictured right), who quit the Czech Social Democrats to form the Party of Civic Rights, became the first head of state to be elected by a popular vote rather than by parliamentarians. He will now serve a five-year term as President following his victory over the centre-right Foreign Minister, Karel Schwarzenberg. The campaign was a divisive one, with Mr Schwarzenberg being accused of a lack of patriotism. Mr Zeman was heavily backed by voters in the Czech countryside, which helped him to secure victory over his rival, who won most votes in the capital, Prague.
A total of nine candidates took part in the first round of the presidential elections, held on 11-12 January. The diverse list of candidates included Jana Bobošíková, a Eurosceptic former MEP; Jiří Dienstbier Jr, Vice-Chair of the Czech Social Democratic Party (ČSSD); Jan Fischer, a former prime minister; Tatana Fisherová, an actress and writer; Vladimir Franz, a composer and university professor. Zuzana Roithová, an MEP, was the candidate of the Christian and Democratic Union (KDU-ČSL); Přemysl Sobotka, represented the Eurosceptic Civic Democratic Party (ODS), which leads the government; another candidate, Miloš Zeman, is a former prime minister and former Chair of the ČSSD, a party he subsequently left; Karel Schwarzenberg, the Foreign Minister and a former advisor to the first Czech president, Václav Havel, also stood. The pre-election polls had put Mr Fischer in front until a few weeks before the first round vote, when Mr Zeman took the lead. This was due in part to Mr Fischer’s poor showing in the televised debates, which effectively ruled him out of the running. Mr Schwarzenberg was the primary beneficiary of Mr Fischer’s difficulties. Although the oldest candidate, Mr Schwarzenberg - along with the youngest candidate, Jiří Dienstbier Jr - best connected to people on social networks and to the urban youth. Somewhat improbably, Mr Schwarzenberg, a 75-year old aristocrat, was depicted on billboards with anarchistic spiky hair.
He was accused of not being a real patriot, not least for his condemnation of the Beneš decrees, which expelled approximately three million ethnic Germans and Hungarians from land in Czechoslovakia shortly after the Second World War. His family was accused of collaboration with the Nazis. There was even a leaked text message from the current president, Václav Klaus, who wrote that if Mr Schwarzenberg won the election, he would consider emigration. The Foreign Minister also suffered from his association with an extremely unpopular right-wing government. Miloš Zeman was also criticised, for the opaque funding of his campaign. The media pointed to his special relationships with controversial businesses. Mr Zeman was also questioned on his choice of advisors and links to the mafia.
In the end, the second round campaign polarised the Czech Republic - Prague against the countryside, young versus old, left versus right. In the election, held on 25-26 January, Mr Zeman, won 54.8% of the vote to Mr Schwarzenberg’s 45.2%. The new president won in all regions except the capital, Prague, and will now face the daunting task of repairing Czech society.
Miloš Zeman is the third president of the Czech Republic. He engaged in the Czech politics shortly before the Velvet Revolution in 1989 when he published an article that was critical towards the communist regime. After the revolution he became an MP, then Chair of the Chamber of Deputies, and finally the Prime Minister.
The first round vote was held in a positive spirit, with candidates focused on presenting themselves and their programmes rather than denigrating their opponents. Miloš Zeman won 24.2% of the vote, picking up most of his votes in the countryside, the east of the country, and in small towns. He entered the second round with Karel Schwarzenberg, who polled 23.4% and dominated in Prague, in big cities and in the west and central part of the Czech Republic.
In 1993 he became Chairman of the ČSSD, which he led to victory in the parliamentary elections. However, he quit politics in 2002 after unsuccessfully running for the post of President. By 2010 he had returned to politics with his own ‘Party of Civic Rights - Zeman’s People’ (SPO-Zemanovci) but the new formation failed to reach the threshold for entry into Parliament. He retired again, but was lured back by a constitutional change ensuring direct presidential elections.
Jan Fischer took 16.4% and Jiří Dienstbier Jr 16.1%. They were eliminated along with the other candidates, who all polled less than seven per cent. The defeat of Přemysl Sobotka, the candidate of the governing ODS party, was particularly crushing. He received only 2.5% of the vote.
Miloš Zeman takes office on 8 March, and he promises to be an active president that will take charge of the government’s programme and participate in parliamentary sessions. Mr Zeman is a supporter of the European Union - a federalist, even and sits in stark contrast to his Eurosceptic predecessor, Václav Klaus. Mr Zeman is in favour of Czech entry to the euro.
No matter how decent the first round was, the key topics of the second round had a more sinister tone. The campaign descended into nationalistic, xenophobic and populist attacks and calls.
He supports the social state, is a champion of the underprivileged, and is in favour of strengthened direct democracy. He supports nuclear energy and seems set to favour a Russian company over an American provider to complete the Temelin nuclear power plant.
Karel Schwarzenberg came off worse and found it difficult to repel the negative tone of Miloš Zeman’s campaign. The Foreign Minister was attacked on issues including his Austrian wife and the fact he left Czechoslovakia during the communist period.
Original text by Merit Government Relations, Burson-Marsteller’s affiliate in the Czech Republic. merit-gr.cz