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The Mayors and Independents party (STAN) has appealed to parties with a similar goals and viewpoints to support the former chair of the Czech Academy of Sciences Jiří Drahoš in the race for president. The leader of the party’s deputies’group in the lower house Jan Farský said he believed Drahoš was one of the few candidates who could seriously challenge the incumbent president, Miloš Zeman for the post.

There are now 12 candidates in the race. In order to join the race each candidate must collect a certain number of signatures in support of his or her candidacy – either from 50,000 citizens, ten senators or twenty deputies.

The Social Democrats have said they will not field their own candidate in the presidential election to be held in January 2018. Five years ago, during the first direct presidential elections in the Czech Republic, the party backed candidate Jiří Dienstbier, who finished fourth in the first round – behind Jan Fischer, Karel Schwarzenberg and the eventual winner, Miloš Zeman.

Earlier this year, the Social Democrats had hinted they might put forward their own nominee. Other parties that will not field candidates in the upcoming election include ANO, the Christian Democrats and TOP 09.

The party for Freedom and Direct Democracy’s leader Tomio Okamura has not ruled out his own bid, which he will decide after November 6.

Betting agencies have revised odds in the presidential election in January, once again favouring the incumbent, Miloš Zeman. During the summer, candidate Jiří Drahoš, the former head the Czech Academy of Sciences was favoured. The pendulum has swung back to Zeman, news site ČTK indicated.

At the moment, Mr Zeman’s odds of winning are 1,40:1 while the odds for Mr Drahoš are 3:1. The next candidate closest presidential hopeful is Michal Horáček, with odds of around 8:1.

Czech musician and politician Petr Hannig says he has collected the 20 signatures from members of parliament needed to be a candidate for presidential elections. Hannig told the Czech News Agency that he submitted the names to the Ministry of Interior on Wednesday. He said backing came from across the political spectrum and he would be seeking more names by the November 7 deadline for candidacies to be submitted, Hannig is the leader of the Common Sense Party which he founded in 2002, The Czech presidential elections will be held in January.

The deputy chairman of the Senate, Jaroslav Kubera, says he will not stand for the post of president. The veteran Civic Democrat politician had gathered the signatures needed to run in the upper house. His party leader, Petr Fiala, said on Wednesday that Mr. Kubera’s family had been opposed to his candidature.

Speaking to the E15.cz news site, Mr. Kubera said that Miloš Zeman would win January’s vote. However, he said doubted whether the incumbent would see out a full five-year second term.

The leader of the ANO party Andrej Babiš has said his party would not field its own candidate in the presidential elections. Mr. Babiš said the presidential elections were not a priority since his party was too busy working to reach agreement on a new government. He did not say whom the party would support. Mr. Babiš has repeatedly rejected speculation that he had struck an agreement on mutual support with the incumbent president Miloš Zeman who is running for re-election.

Thirty-one percent of those planning to vote in January’s presidential election would give their backing to the incumbent Miloš Zeman, suggests a poll by the CVVM agency. Academic Jiří Drahoš placed second in the survey on 18 percent, followed by businessman and lyricist Michal Horáček on 14 percent.

Over one-quarter of those planning to go to the ballot boxes said they had not yet decided on whom to give their vote.

The presidential election follows a two-round system, with the first two in the first round going into a run-off.

The former Czech ambassador to Paris Pavel Fischer has entered the race for president. Mr. Fischer confirmed his candidacy at a press conference in Prague on Thursday, saying he had the support of ten senators across the political spectrum.

Pavel Fischer has also served as Czech ambassador to Monaco, he was in the service of president Vaclav Havel and is currently director of the STEM polling agency.

Ten other candidates are in the running for the country’s top post, including the incumbent president Miloš Zeman. A candidate needs to win support from ten senators, twenty MPs or 50,000 Czech citizens.

Pavel Fischer, the former Czech ambassador to France and current head of the STEM polling agency, is reportedly set to run for president in the election next January. An official announcement is expected on Thursday.

The head of Christian Democrats’ deputies’ club Petr Šilar confirmed that Mr Fischer had support from 10 senators, one of the means of launching a bid.

Another is gathering signatures from 50,000 people in support of one’s candidacy.

Czechs have learnt the dates when the second presidential elections in the country’s history will be held. The official announcement on Wednesday should concentrate minds and act as a spur to the host of candidates already declared.