Czechs go to the polls on Friday and Saturday to vote for their next presiden

Citizens of the Czech Republic are called to vote today and tomorrow for the election of a new president.

The electorate will have to choose a successor to the outgoing head of state, Milos Zeman, who has reached the end of his second consecutive five-year term and, therefore, is unable to run again.

Today's and tomorrow's votes are the third first-instance election in the country's history. In fact, elections for the head of state in the Czech Republic were carried out by the Parliament until 2012.

The first direct elections were held in 2013 after a reform of the procedure. Polling stations open today for about 8,3 million voters. People forced into solitary confinement due to the coronavirus were able to vote as early as last Wednesday, while yesterday it was the turn of guests in nursing homes.
Yesterday afternoon, it was also possible to vote in the embassies of the Czech Republic in North and South America, while in those of Asia, Africa, Europe and Oceania the vote is held today and tomorrow.

There are 14.370 Czech citizens registered abroad to vote in this year's presidential elections.

After the withdrawal of trade unionist Josef Stredula, eight candidates remain in the running, but general attention is directed to three of them, those most favored for victory: retired general Petr Pavel, former premier Andrej Babis and the economist Danuse Nerudova.