The Prague castle, which serves as the official residence of the Czech Republic’s president, recently held its third direct presidential election. However, in a twist reminiscent of Kafka’s works, none of the eight candidates were able to secure enough votes to win the election. Andrej Babis, a former Prime Minister, and Petr Pavel, a retired general, tied in the first round of the election with 35% of the votes each.

The second round of voting is set to take place on January 27th and 28th, and Babis has launched a negative campaign leading up to it. The former Czech foreign minister, Karel Schwarzenberg, has predicted that the next two weeks will be “uniquely disgusting.” This is the third direct presidential election in the Czech Republic, following a constitutional change in 2012 which did away with the previous parliamentary process, which was prone to backroom deals.

A total of 68% of voters turned out for this election, and the candidates included Danuse Nerudova, who aimed to be the country’s first female president, and Jaroslav Basta, a far-right populist.

Article by Prague Forum