Balloting day will be extended during this Friday and tomorrow, Saturday, and if none of the nominees obtains more than 50 percent, a second round will take place on January 27 and 28, in which the two most voted candidates of the first round will face each other.
Running in this first round are: Former Prime Minister Andrej Babis, MP Jaroslav Basta of the Freedom and Direct Democracy party, businessman and former sports commentator Karel Divis, Senators Pavel Fischer and Marek Hilser, economist Danuse Nerudová, retired general Petr Pavel and physician and biochemist Tomáš Zima.
According to the latest polls published by the Czech media in early January, the main favorites are the former Chairman of the NATO Military Committee, retired General Petr Pavel, with a 22.5 percent share of votes; former Prime Minister Babis, 22 percent; and former rector of Mendel University in Brno, Danuse Nerudova, 15 percent.
The current President, Milos Zeman, took office in 2013 and is serving his second term, so he cannot run again, as the country’s legislation provides.
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