Putin Fan Zeman Heads for Czech Re-Election Runoff Challenge
- Incumbent garners most votes of nine candidates in first round
- Chemistry professor Drahos in second place, advances to runoff
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Czech President Milos Zeman is heading into a runoff against a pro-European challenger in a ballot that’s become a public reckoning of a veteran politician who’s thrown his support behind Russian leader Vladimir Putin and mobilized voters with anti-migrant rhetoric.
Zeman, 73, won 39 percent in a first round of voting that ended on Saturday. The former prime minister and parliamentary speaker will face Jiri Drahos, a 68-year-old chemistry professor and past head of the Czech Academy of Sciences in a head-to-head contest on Jan. 26-27. Drahos won 27 percent, far ahead of the next challenger, according to results published by the statistics office.