At exactly 14:00 on January 28 local time (20:00 Hanoi time), nearly 15,000 polling stations in the Czech Republic closed, ending the second round of the country’s presidential election.
One of two candidates Petr Pavel and Andrej Babis will become the 4th President of the Czech Republic, succeeding him Milos Zeman term ends in early March.
According to preliminary statistics, the turnout rate in the second round continues to reach a high level. The Czech National Election Commission said this figure could exceed the record of over 68% set during the first round of elections on January 13-14.
In this presidential election, the Czech Republic has nearly 8.3 million eligible voters.
Hours before polling stations closed, both Mr. Pavel and Mr. Babis took advantage of social media to continue urging voters to go to the polls.
In the first round, out of eight candidates running for the election, Mr. Pavel led with 35.4% of the votes won, while Mr. Babis came in second with 34.99% of the votes. The turnout rate for the first round of voting was 68.24% (equivalent to more than 5.6 million voters).
Up to four of the six candidates eliminated in the first round, including economics professor Danuse Nerudova, Senators Pavel Fischer and Marek Hilser and businessman Karel Divis, announced their support for former General Pavel in the second round of elections. .
[Cộng hòa Séc tiến hành cuộc bầu cử tổng thống vòng 2]
Opinion polls ahead of the final round of polls show the numbers in Pavel’s favour.
The former Czech army general is predicted to win with about 57% of the votes won.
Meanwhile, former Prime Minister Babis only received a support rate of about 42% in opinion polls before the second round.
It is expected that the preliminary results of the second round will be announced soon after the polls close. The official results will be announced on January 31 after the meeting of the Czech National Election Commission a day earlier.
President of the Czech Senate Milos Vystrcil said that a victory by a large margin of either Pavel or Babis would help soothe a society that has been divided by the campaign.
Ngoc Bien (VNA/Vietnam+)