Czechs began voting Friday in a tight two-day presidential run-off in the EU and NATO state pitting pro-Russian incumbent Milos Zeman against pro-European rival Jiri Drahos in a race that promises to go down to the wire.
A poll by the Kantar TNS and Median agencies showed the rivals are neck-and-neck, with the divisive 73-year-old ex-communist Zeman getting 45.5 percent of the vote against 45 percent for the liberal academic Drahos.
About 10 percent of voters are still undecided and polls have shown that they too are split down the middle.
"This is a showdown between two completely different candidates representing two parts of a rather split society," political analyst Tomas Lebeda, from Palacky University in the eastern Czech city of Olomouc, told AFP.
Top daily Lidove Noviny characterised it as a clash between the "political pitbull" Zeman and the "decent academic" Drahos, who is a newcomer to politics.
Known for his pro-Chinese and anti-Muslim stance, Zeman took pole position in a field of nine candidates in the January 12-13 first round, garnering 38.56 percent of the vote. Drahos got 26.60 percent.
While Zeman represents poorer voters with lower education and those living in the countryside, Drahos appeals to wealthier, well-educated urbanites.
Prague voter Lubos Horcic told AFP he chose Drahos because "he will work to reconcile society and not divide it like Comrade Zeman", adding that Drahos was "moving towards Europe and the West and not towards the East."
But Daniel Hajek said he would choose the "experienced Milos Zeman because he's opening the door to economic cooperation with countries like Russia and China.
"It's important for us, for jobs; our country is at the heart of Europe -- we can't go in just one direction," he told AFP in Prague.
Europe's fifth biggest carmaker is heavily dependent on auto exports, mainly to the eurozone, and is expected to expand by 3.4 percent this year.
The vote comes amid a wider political crisis as billionaire populist Prime Minister Andrej Babis is fighting police charges of EU subsidy fraud that are hampering his ability to form a government.
- Twelve migrants -
Even though the country of 10.6 million people has only received 12 migrants under the EU quota system, migration has become a key issue in the campaign.
Zeman's attitude to the European Union echoes other populist-minded EU politicians -- like Poland and Hungary -- at odds with Brussels over mandatory refugee quotas and various rules which they see as attempts to limit national sovereignty.
Zeman once called the 2015 migrant crisis "an organised invasion" of Europe, claiming Muslims were "impossible to integrate".
Billboards across the Czech Republic sought to appeal to voters with anti-migrant messages: "Stop immigrants and Drahos. This is our country. Vote Zeman!"
He has also repeatedly called on the EU to lift its sanctions on Russia over its 2014 takeover of Crimea from Ukraine.
Running under the slogan "Decency is a strength," Drahos, a 68-year-old former head of the Czech Academy of Sciences and a trained chemist, could not be more different.
A mild-mannered centrist whom critics have branded "wishy-washy", he has called for Prague to "play a more active role in the EU" and backed the adoption of the euro.
He is also a critic of the refugee quota system, but contends that the Czech Republic is strong enough to accept its allotted 2,600 refugees, which has earned him scorn in pro-Zeman media and on social networks.
Drahos has also flatly denied and fought off allegations of paedophilia and having been a communist police agent, suggesting the smear-campaign was devised by Russian intelligence with links to his rival.
- Second chance -
Prime Minister Babis's populist ANO movement won October's general elections on an anti-corruption and anti-euro ticket, scoring 78 seats in the 200-member parliament.
But potential coalition partners have shunned Babis, who is fighting police charges of EU funding fraud.
He was forced to form a minority government which failed a confidence vote on January 16, only days before he was stripped of immunity as lawmaker, allowing the police to proceed with the charges.
But Zeman gave Babis a second chance on Wednesday, in line with the constitution, asking him to form a new cabinet and pledging to name his second cabinet before his term ends on March 8, irrespective of the outcome of the presidential vote.
Polling stations open at 1300 GMT on Friday and close at 2100 before reopening at 0700 GMT and closing at 1300 on Saturday.
Czechs began voting Friday in a tight two-day presidential run-off in the EU and NATO state pitting pro-Russian incumbent Milos Zeman against pro-European rival Jiri Drahos in a race that promises to go down to the wire.
A poll by the Kantar TNS and Median agencies showed the rivals are neck-and-neck, with the divisive 73-year-old ex-communist Zeman getting 45.5 percent of the vote against 45 percent for the liberal academic Drahos.
About 10 percent of voters are still undecided and polls have shown that they too are split down the middle.
“This is a showdown between two completely different candidates representing two parts of a rather split society,” political analyst Tomas Lebeda, from Palacky University in the eastern Czech city of Olomouc, told AFP.
Top daily Lidove Noviny characterised it as a clash between the “political pitbull” Zeman and the “decent academic” Drahos, who is a newcomer to politics.
Known for his pro-Chinese and anti-Muslim stance, Zeman took pole position in a field of nine candidates in the January 12-13 first round, garnering 38.56 percent of the vote. Drahos got 26.60 percent.
While Zeman represents poorer voters with lower education and those living in the countryside, Drahos appeals to wealthier, well-educated urbanites.
Prague voter Lubos Horcic told AFP he chose Drahos because “he will work to reconcile society and not divide it like Comrade Zeman”, adding that Drahos was “moving towards Europe and the West and not towards the East.”
But Daniel Hajek said he would choose the “experienced Milos Zeman because he’s opening the door to economic cooperation with countries like Russia and China.
“It’s important for us, for jobs; our country is at the heart of Europe — we can’t go in just one direction,” he told AFP in Prague.
Europe’s fifth biggest carmaker is heavily dependent on auto exports, mainly to the eurozone, and is expected to expand by 3.4 percent this year.
The vote comes amid a wider political crisis as billionaire populist Prime Minister Andrej Babis is fighting police charges of EU subsidy fraud that are hampering his ability to form a government.
– Twelve migrants –
Even though the country of 10.6 million people has only received 12 migrants under the EU quota system, migration has become a key issue in the campaign.
Zeman’s attitude to the European Union echoes other populist-minded EU politicians — like Poland and Hungary — at odds with Brussels over mandatory refugee quotas and various rules which they see as attempts to limit national sovereignty.
Zeman once called the 2015 migrant crisis “an organised invasion” of Europe, claiming Muslims were “impossible to integrate”.
Billboards across the Czech Republic sought to appeal to voters with anti-migrant messages: “Stop immigrants and Drahos. This is our country. Vote Zeman!”
He has also repeatedly called on the EU to lift its sanctions on Russia over its 2014 takeover of Crimea from Ukraine.
Running under the slogan “Decency is a strength,” Drahos, a 68-year-old former head of the Czech Academy of Sciences and a trained chemist, could not be more different.
A mild-mannered centrist whom critics have branded “wishy-washy”, he has called for Prague to “play a more active role in the EU” and backed the adoption of the euro.
He is also a critic of the refugee quota system, but contends that the Czech Republic is strong enough to accept its allotted 2,600 refugees, which has earned him scorn in pro-Zeman media and on social networks.
Drahos has also flatly denied and fought off allegations of paedophilia and having been a communist police agent, suggesting the smear-campaign was devised by Russian intelligence with links to his rival.
– Second chance –
Prime Minister Babis’s populist ANO movement won October’s general elections on an anti-corruption and anti-euro ticket, scoring 78 seats in the 200-member parliament.
But potential coalition partners have shunned Babis, who is fighting police charges of EU funding fraud.
He was forced to form a minority government which failed a confidence vote on January 16, only days before he was stripped of immunity as lawmaker, allowing the police to proceed with the charges.
But Zeman gave Babis a second chance on Wednesday, in line with the constitution, asking him to form a new cabinet and pledging to name his second cabinet before his term ends on March 8, irrespective of the outcome of the presidential vote.
Polling stations open at 1300 GMT on Friday and close at 2100 before reopening at 0700 GMT and closing at 1300 on Saturday.
