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Miloš Zeman became the first Czech head of state to be returned to office in a nationwide poll on January 27. The veteran politician beat challenger, former head of the Czech Academy of Sciences Jiří Drahoš, by around 52% to 48% following a high turnout of around 66.5 percent of eligible voters.

President Miloš Zeman voted in a Prague suburb on Friday afternoon amid stepped up security.

Around 20 journalists complained that they had not been allowed into the polling station when he cast his vote. Zeman referred jokingly to the incident two weeks previously when a Ukrainian woman disrupted his voting by running topless at Zeman shouting ‘Zeman, Putin slut.’ The protester was bundled to the ground by a member of the president’s security.

The comments are a reference to Zeman’s perceived pro-Russian stance and support for the Russian president. Challenger Jiří Drahoš also voted in Prague on Friday. He said that he represented security and promised a better deal for the socially weak.

The polls have opened across the country for the second round of the Czech presidential election. Voters are choosing between the incumbent Miloš Zeman and challenger Jiří Drahoš, the former head of the Czech Academy of Sciences. Voters will have until 2 pm CET on Saturday to cast their vote.

Czechs have started voting in the second round of the presidential elections pitting current head of state Miloš Zeman against challenger Jiří Drahoš.

Polling booths opened at 2 PM in the afternoon and were due to close at 10 pm. The voting restarts on Saturday from 8 AM to 2 PM. The count will take place immediately with the full results promised in the later afternoon.

In the first round, 61.9 percent of eligible voters took part. Zeman won 38.6 percent of the vote with Drahoš getting 26.6 percent. Around 5.15 million votes were cast of the possible 8.4 million in the first round two weeks ago.

Five years earlier in the previous presidential vote, the second round participation was slightly down on the first round .

An estimated 2.6 million people watched the final televised presidential debate between current head of state Miloš Zeman and challenger Jiří Drahoš on public broadcaster Czech Television on Thursday night.

Many commentators reckoned honours were fairly even between the two in a much more subdued setting than the rowdy atmosphere on commercial broadcaster Prima two days earlier.

Questions focused on Zeman’s presidential team and advisors, foreign relations, campaign backers, and the candidates’ stand over outgoing prime minister and ANO leader Andrej Babiš, who is facing criminal charges.

Czechs living abroad will start casting their ballots in the second round of presidential elections on Thursday, a day earlier than in the Czech Republic. Polling stations will first open in Brazil, at 5 p.m. Central European time, followed by Argentina, Chile, Cuba and the eastern coast of the US and Canada.

Incumbent Czech president Miloš Zeman and his challenger Jiří Drahoš are set to meet in the second and final television debate on Thursday night, on the eve of the presidential runoff.

The 90-minute duel will take place on Czech public television and will be broadcast live. Compared with the first debate broadcast by commercial TV Prima on Tuesday night, the audience will be significantly smaller. Voting in the second round of presidential elections begins at 2 p.m. on Friday.

The highly-anticipated first televised debate between current Czech president, Miloš Zeman, and his challenger Jiří Drahoš, drew more than two million viewers. Political veteran Zeman dictated much of the tempo and landed more punches but his opponent was seen as holding his own. Most criticised was the discussion format itself, which hamstrung serious debate.

Political marketing experts say incumbent Miloš Zeman edged the first televised debate with his challenger for the post of Czech president, Jiří Drahoš, on commercial station TV Prima on Tuesday night. Martin Joachymstál, a political marketing specialist, told the Czech News Agency that Mr. Zeman had outdone his rival. He said also that the clash had been influenced by the poor performance of the host of the debate, who had failed to keep the rowdy audience in check.

This view was shared by Alžběta Králová of the Institute of Political Marketing, who said that Mr. Drahoš had attempted to hold a serious debate in an unserious environment. She said that the aggressive and confrontational style of the event had suited Mr. Zeman and that his rival had failed to prevent the incumbent from interrupting him.

The two candidates are due to meet again in a second and final debate on Thursday night. Voting in the second round runoff begins on Friday afternoon.

ANO leader Andrej Babiš will get a second chance to form a government, irrespective of who wins the upcoming presidential election. Incumbent Miloš Zeman made the comment on a debate program on TV Barrandov on Monday in which an empty chair stood in for his challenger, Jiří Drahoš.