2018 Czech presidential election
Presidential elections were held in the Czech Republic in January 2018. The first round took place on 12 and 13 January. As no candidate won a majority, a run-off election between the top two candidates, Jiří Drahoš and President Miloš Zeman, was held on 26 and 27 January 2018.
In the first round, voters chose between nine candidates who qualified for the elections either by gathering 50,000 signatures from the public, 10 signatures from Senators or 20 signatures from members of the Chamber of Deputies. Incumbent president Miloš Zeman, running for re-election for his second and last term, finished first with 38.57%, followed by former president of the Czech Academy of Sciences Jiří Drahoš, who received 26.60%.
In the second round, Miloš Zeman narrowly defeated Drahoš and was elected for a second term in office. Voter turnout was 66.60%, the highest since the 1998 legislative elections.
Background
Former prime minister Miloš Zeman was elected as President of the Czech Republic in 2013, defeating Minister of Foreign Affairs Karel Schwarzenberg in the country's first direct presidential elections. Until 2012, all presidential elections in the Czech Republic were indirect, with the president being chosen by the Parliament of the Czech Republic.According to polls conducted in 2016, Zeman was the front-runner and his chances of re-election were considered high, although it was speculated that Zeman's candidacy would be determined by his health. Zeman announced his candidacy on 9 March 2017. There was speculation that both the Social Democrats and ANO may endorse Zeman, but neither party did in the end. Some commentators speculated that Zeman could be elected in the first round.
On 23 August 2017, the Speaker of the Senate announced that the first round would be held on 12 and 13 January 2018, with a second round being held on 26 and 27 January 2018, if required. The deadline for nominating candidates was scheduled for 7 November 2017.
Candidates
In order to qualify for the ballot, candidates must gather 50,000 signatures from citizens, or the support of twenty Deputies or ten Senators. The candidates must file their applications and signatures 66 days before the election, following which the Interior Ministry will verify a sample of the signatures.19 candidates submitted themselves as candidates. Only nine of them met requirements for registration and became official candidates: Jiří Drahoš, Pavel Fischer, Petr Hannig, Marek Hilšer, Michal Horáček, Jiří Hynek, Vratislav Kulhánek, Mirek Topolánek and Miloš Zeman.
Official candidates
Nine candidates gathered the required number of signatures and had their candidacy approved by the Ministry of the Interior. Candidates are listed according to number allocated by the Ministry.Disqualified candidates
- Josef Toman, running as an independent, said that he had submitted nomination papers signed by 75,000 people, but was disqualified for not fulfilling the quorum.
- Businesswoman Terezie Holovská announced her candidacy on 31 October 2017.
- Other disqualified candidates were Petr Blaha, Daniel Felkel, Oldřich Fiala, Roman Hladík, Libor Hrančík, David Chadim, Anna Kašná, Martin Ludačka and Karel Světnička.
Withdrawn candidates
- Former MP announced his candidacy on 10 April 2017, but ended his presidential bid on 7 November 2017 having failed to gather enough signatures.
- Michal Gulyáš, an actor, producer and writer, announced his candidacy on 11 January 2017 but withdrew from the election on 7 February for personal reasons.
- Miroslav Sládek, leader of SPR-RSČ, started collecting signatures, and announced his candidacy on 27 February 2017. On 23 October 2017 he withdrew from the election due to his party's poor results in the 2017 legislative election.
- Businessman Vladimír Boštík announced his candidacy on 30 August 2017.
Party endorsements
In the first round, Jiří Drahoš ran with the support of the Christian and Democratic Union – Czechoslovak People's Party and Mayors and Independents. Miloš Zeman ran with the support of Freedom and Direct Democracy and the Party of Civic Rights. On the day before the vote, ANO leader Andrej Babiš also endorsed Zeman. In addition, Topolánek was endorsed by centre-right ODS and the Freeholder Party.
Parties which did not issue any official endorsement included the Party of Free Citizens, TOP 09, the Green Party, the Moravians party, the Communist Party, and the Czech Pirate Party, though several individual politicians endorsed candidates privately. The Social Democrats experienced an internal split over which candidate to endorse, leading to no official party endorsement, but different groups within the party endorsing either Zeman, or Drahoš.
In the second round, Drahoš received further endorsements from ODS and TOP 09.
Campaign before nominations
Early campaign
Senator Zdeněk Škromach was the first candidate to announce his intention to run, in 2015. In response, Tomáš Halík announced that he would run for president if Škromach did. This led former president Václav Klaus to announce that he would run against Halík if he was running without a strong rival. Škromach, Halík and Klaus all finally declined to run.On 21 May 2016, former minister Michael Kocáb issued the "Kroměříž Proclamation", with the intention of finding a strong candidate to run against Zeman. Kocáb suggested Michal Horáček, who declined the movement's support but did not rule out running. Horáček mentioned his possible candidacy in April 2016 and some polls indicated that he would be the strongest possible contender to Zeman.
Marek Hilšer launched his campaign in July 2016, with the slogan: "Marek to the Castle." He said he would finance his presidential campaign through a transparent account. Hilšer has negative opinions of Russia and China, and also supports helping immigrants.
Michal Horáček officially launched his campaign on 3 November 2016. A week earlier he had moderated a meeting at Old Town Square, which was considered to be the actual start of his campaign as it was meant to coincide with official celebrations of Czech Statehood Day. Horáček stated that he wanted his campaign to be based on respect for all people and all opinions. He also said that he believed he could win in the first round. TOP 09, STAN and KDU-ČSL were considering supporting Horáček before his campaign started, but none of them did in the end. Horáček also entered into a dispute with TOP 09.
On 21 December 2016, Institute for Democracy 21 launched an interactive web game to choose a presidential candidate. Everyone who voted was allowed to cast three positive votes and one negative vote. Jiří Pánek started as the winning candidate, despite having ruled himself out of running. As of April 2017, Jiří Drahoš is leading the game.
It was reported in January 2017 that Czech political parties had decided to cease preparations for the election until Zeman announced whether he was seeking re-election. Zeman discussed his possible candidacy with close colleagues on 31 January. One of them stated that Zeman was likely to run for re-election, and would announce his decision on 9 March 2017.
On 9 February 2017 Horáček announced his team of his advisers, including Magda Vášáryová, Dana Drábová and Pavel Pefko. In response, Zeman said that Horáček "never says what he thinks. His advisers will talk instead of him." Zeman attended the SPO Congress on 11 February 2017, at which SPO leader Jan Veleba assured Zeman that the party would support his reelection campaign if he decided to run. Zeman visited hospital for a preventive examination after the congress.
On 9 March, the Kroměříž Proclamation started gathering signatures for Marek Hilšer and Petr Kolář.
March 2017
Zeman announced his candidacy on 9 March during a meeting with his supporters, and confirmed his decision the next day in a press conference, saying that he had been persuaded by the support of the people. He commented that he did not consider himself the favourite in the election, and also said he would not run a political campaign, attack his rivals, or participate in debates, but would gather the 50,000 signatures required to qualify for the presidential ballot. He also announced that he would appear in a television programme called A week with the President. Michal Horáček criticised Zeman's decision not to participate in presidential debates.On 13 March, Karel Štogl, a former member of ČSSD who still has links with the party, announced his intention to run and began seeking parliamentary support for his nomination.
Jiří Drahoš, former president of the Czech Academy of Sciences, announced his candidacy on 28 March 2017. Drahoš said he did not want to be the official candidate of any party, but some party leaders expressed their intention to endorse him. Petr Gazdík, the leader of Mayors and Independents, described Drahoš as a great candidate and rival to Zeman, and said he believed he could convince his party to support Drahoš. The leaders of TOP 09 and KDU-ČSL also said they were considering supporting him. ODS leader Petr Fiala refused to comment on Drahoš's candidacy but acknowledged him to be a dignified candidate. Leader of ANO Andrej Babiš said that he considered Drahoš a respectable person but noted that Drahoš did not want the support of any party. In response to the announcement, Zeman's spokesman Jiří Ovčáček described Drahoš as "just a product of PR". He added that in his view the Czech Republic needed "a president who will stand by people in situations such as the migration crisis", not just "a yes man who can deliver empty speeches". Michal Horáček said that Drahoš would be a candidate of political parties and would have to return their support. Drahoš met journalists at the National Technical Library on 30 March 2017. He described himself as an independent candidate who supports the European Union and NATO, and also stated that he would reject a government that included the Communist Party. He also announced plans to gather 50,000 signatures instead of being nominated by lawmakers.