President Miloš Zeman won a second term of office by defeating his rival Jiří Drahoš in the final round of voting over the weekend by a margin of roughly 3 percent. Political observers believe that the outcome was by no means a forgone conclusion, as Drahoš was leading in the polls a week ago. However, he appears to have lost ground during two live televized debates, a forum in which Zeman is polished professional. In his previous political incarnation, he served as prime minister of the country as the head of the Social Democratic party. However he split from the left-oriented grouping and carved out a niche on the right by exploiting fears of a wave of immigration that swept Europe in 2015. Zeman has also cultivated close ties with Russia and China, while maintaining a tepid level of support for the European Union. He’s theoretically in favor of euro accession, but not yet; and he supports the idea of a referendum on Czechia’s continuing membership in the EU, claiming he would vote in favor of it.
