Czech President Milos Zeman, an ardent supporter of Russian leader Vladimir Putin, won a second term in an election victory after warning voters that sheltering Muslim immigrants could lead to terrorist attacks.
Zeman, 73, who was also an early fan of US President Donald Trump, took 51.4 percent of votes in a two-day ballot that ended on Saturday, according results published by the Statistics Office.
His challenger for the largely ceremonial post, 68-year-old chemistry professor Jiri Drahos, pledged to anchor the nation of 10.6 million more firmly in the EU and NATO. He conceded after getting 48.6 percent of the vote.
The victory represents a win for anti-establishment political forces who are fighting against the EU’s liberal, multi-cultural values, including Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and Poland’s ruling Law and Justice Party.
It also extends an alliance with billionaire Czeck Prime Minister Andrej Babis, with whom he shares opposition to further European integration and acceptance of refugees from Africa and the Middle East in a country that has an almost non-existent Muslim minority.
“Zeman very clearly established his anti-immigration position and that decided the election,” said Jakub Charvat, political scientist at the Metropolitan University in Prague. “He appealed to voters with lower income and lower education levels who felt they finally had someone in the highest echelons of politics who defends them.”
The Czech Republic boasts one of the EU’s fastest growing economies, its lowest unemployment and the highest living standards among the bloc’s post-communist members, but the election showed a division between those reaping the benefits of the post-communist transition toward an economy integrated with richer western neighbors and poorer people who feel the country’s economic success has passed them by.
Zeman’s critics say his efforts to strengthen ties with Russia and China have undermined Czech relations with Western allies.
The veteran politician — whose three-decade career includes stints as prime minister and speaker of parliament — rejects the idea, saying he is trying to help exporters.
He derides his opponents as part of a “Prague coffee-house society” detached from the lives of ordinary people.
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