Prague, Dec 17 (CTK) – Incumbent President Milos Zeman is the clear favourite of the first round of the Czech presidential election but he would be defending his post in an equal duel with scientist Jiri Drahos in the runoff, according to the latest opinion poll released by the Czech Television (CT) on Sunday.
If any of the nine candidates wins a majority of the vote in the first round of the direct presidential election scheduled for January 12-13, he will become the next president. Otherwise the two most successful candidates will meet in the second round on January 26-27.
Zeman seems to be the only candidate who may have a chance of winning a majority already in the first round. In the second round, his position may be more difficult because he has not only many supporters but also many opponents who prefer various other candidates.
If the election was held now, the poll showed that Zeman would win 43.5 percent of the vote in the first round and Sciences Academy former head Drahos 28.5 percent.
They would be followed by lyricist Michal Horacek (11.5 percent), former right-wing prime minister Mirek Topolanek (7 percent) and diplomat Pavel Fischer (5 percent).
The pollsters asked the respondents which candidates they were at least considering to support. This potential support they call the election potential of the candidates. From this perspective, the gap between Zeman and Drahos is markedly smaller. The potential of Horacek indicates that he might overcome Drahos, and Fischer has a higher potential than Topolanek.
According to the poll, both Zeman and Drahos would win 45 percent of the vote in the second round and the rest of the voters were still undecided.
The poll was conducted by the Kantar TNS and Median agencies on over 1,500 respondents on December 9-14.
Election model and election potential for direct presidential election according to Kantar TNS and Median (in percent):
Model Potential
Milos Zeman 43.5 48.0
Jiri Drahos 28.5 41.5
Michal Horacek 11.5 28.5
Mirek Topolanek 7.0 14.5
Pavel Fischer 5.0 21.5
Marek Hilser 2.0 9.5
Vratislav Kulhanek 1.5 8.0
Jiri Hynek 1.0 5.5
Petr Hannig 0.5 4.5
