Prague, Nov 2 (CTK) – Czech trade union leader Josef Stredula thanked President Milos Zeman for supporting his presidential candidacy, he wrote on Twitter following a meeting with Zeman at Prague Castle yesterday.
Zeman previously said he would support CMKOS umbrella union leader Stredula and ANO chairman and former prime minister Andrej Babis for president.
Stredula said Zeman repeated this to him today.
Zeman’s spokesman Jiri Ovcacek said Zeman met Stredula at Prague Castle today and that Stredula had asked for the meeting.
Stredula started gathering signatures from citizens supporting his candidacy in early May, while Babis declared that he would be running for president only on Sunday, just a few hours after he met Zeman in the presidential mansion in Lany near Prague.
In summer, Zeman said it was unlikely that he would say in public which of the two candidates he would recommend voting for. He said he would make his decision based on the candidates’ performances in the televised debates.
The first round of the Czech presidential election will be held on 13-14 January 2023. If no candidate receives more than 50% of the vote in the first round, the top two candidates will go head-to-head in the second round two weeks later. The new president will take up the post after Zeman’s term of office ends on 8 March.
Opinion polls indicate that the most popular candidates are General Petr Pavel, Babis and economist Danuse Nerudova. Stredula is not one of the favourites.
