Prague, Nov 7 (CTK) – Current President Milos Zeman and former Science Academy head Jiri Drahos would advance to the second round of the Czech presidential election, gaining 49 and 51 percent of the vote, respectively, shows a poll by the Median agency for the Seznam Zpravy server, released on Tuesday.
In a similar poll conducted by Median in September, Drahos would win with 55.5 percent of the vote.
One of the factors that might cause rising support for Zeman is the fact that the poll was conducted around the October 20-21 general election, sociologist Daniel Prokop commented for CTK.
Voters of the ANO movement and the Freedom and Direct Democracy (SPD) who also tend to support Zeman were very active then, Prokop said.
The poll, conducted from October 5 til November 5, also posed questions on support for particular politicians who eventually decided not to run for president, such as Civic Democrat (ODS) senator Jaroslav Kubera and Defence Minister Martin Stropnicky (ANO).
On the other hand, it does not include the candidacy of former ODS prime minister Mirek Topolanek, who announced it on Sunday.
In the latest Median poll, 30 percent of people would definitely vote for Zeman in the first election round, while another 18 percent see him as an acceptable candidate.
Nineteen percent would definitely vote for Drahos in the first round, but 32 percent would be considering this.
Drahos is acceptable to more people than Zeman who is sharply dividing society. Zeman would be unacceptable to 53 percent of the respondents, while Drahos only to 30 percent, the poll shows.
Support for Zeman has increased in the latest poll and the number of his hardcore voters would be higher than in September and the highest of all four polls conducted by Median for Seznam since April.
On the other hand, the number of voters convinced to support Drahos has slightly decreased. But the total of those who would definitely or probably vote for him is the same as in June.
Another candidate, lyricist and entrepreneur Michal Horacek, can count with 10 percent of voters who might vote for him, while 19 percent would be considering this. However, 57 percent view him as unacceptable.
If the presidential election took place now, turnout would be 56 percent. The Median pollsters say the real turnout might oscillate between 40 and 60 percent. However, it would be higher among former voters of Zeman as 88 percent of them say they would go to the election.
