27 Senators, one third of the total, were up for election this year. Credit: Senate CR.
Prague, Oct 1 (CTK) – The second round of elections for one-third of the Czech Senate ended at 2pm today when polling stations closed, and results are now known.
Voters were electing 24 senators for the 81-seat upper house in the second round of elections, in addition to the three senators elected in the first round held a week ago. One-third of the Senate seats (27 out of 81) are contested every two years.
The senior opposition ANO movement was in a strong position after the first round, with 17 candidates progressing to the second round, followed by the Civic Democrats (ODS) and the Christian Democrats (KDU-CSL) with nominees in nine and six constituencies respectively. The Mayors and Independents (STAN) and TOP 09 had three nominees each, and the Social Democrats (CSSD) and the Freedom and Direct Democracy (SPD) had one each.
However, in the second round, candidates from the governing SPOLU coalition performed very strongly, winning 20 of the seats up for grabs. ANO finished with only three senators, while two independents were elected, and one each from STAN and the Senator21 group. In the two Senate races in Brno, Tomas Topfer and Jiri Dusek (both ODS) finished victorious and will be the city’s new senators, in both cases after seeing off challenges from ANO candidates.
The ODS and TOP 09 senator group thus remains the largest grouping in the Senate, with the right to nominate the upper house chairman, expected to be Milos Vystrcil, who won his reelection bid in Jihlava.
The second round results will become official after the State Election Commission reviews them on Monday and they are most likely to be published in the Collection of Laws on Tuesday, 4 October.
The last Senate session in the pre-election composition will take place on 12 October. The six-year mandate of those senators who did not seek re-election or failed is to end on 15 October.
