Prague the only Czech region where Drahoš beats Zeman

Prague, Jan 13 (CTK) - Prague is the only region of the Czech Republic where former Sciences Academy head Jiri Drahos won in the first round of the presidential election, gaining 35 percent of the vote from 216,167 Praguers, according to the final results that the Czech Statistical Office (CSU) released on Saturday.

Incumbent President Milos Zeman, who won in all the other 13 regions, ended second in the capital with 22.4 percent of the vote from 138,437 people.

The highest election turnout of 67.6 percent was in Prague as well, compared to the average 61.9 percent in the country.

Drahos also won the highest support of Czech citizens voting abroad.

Diplomat Pavel Fischer fared third in Prague with 13.53 percent of the vote, while lyricist and businessman Michal Horacek was fourth with 11.2 percent, followed by physician Marek Hilser (9.4 percent).

A total of 920,000 people voted in the presidential election's first round in Prague on Saturday and on Friday.

Five years ago, the turnout in Prague was lower (65.1 percent) in the first round.

Prague (turnout 67.56 percent):

Candidate Percent Number of Votes
1. Jiri Drahos 35.03 216,167
2. Milos Zeman 22.43 138,437
3. Pavel Fischer 13.53 83,514
4. Michal Horacek 11.16 68,892
5. Marek Hilser 9.42 58,164
6. Mirek Topolanek 6.32 39,046
7. Jiri Hynek 1.17 7260
8. Petr Hannig 0.45 2795
9. Vratislav Kulhanek 0.44 2738
hol/dr/kva