Czech leader Miloš Zeman to support PM Andrej Babiš if he runs for president in 2023

Lany, Central Bohemia, Oct 6 (CTK) – Czech President Miloš Zeman said he would vote for Andrej Babiš, the current prime minister and leader of the ANO movement, if he decided to run for president in the next direct election in 2023, he said in an interview on Frekvence 1 radio today.

In another media interview on Thursday, Zeman mentioned the umbrella CMKOS union leader Josef Stredula and the Czech Chamber of Commerce President Vladimir Dlouhy as potential good presidential candidates of the left- and the right-wing of the domestic political scene, respectively.

“Yes, definitely, but he has refused to run [for presidency] for the time being,” Zeman said, answering the question of whether he would support the current prime minister.

Zeman, 75, gets on well with Babiš, 65, mainly since the October 2017 general election, which Babis’s ANO won comfortably. Their relationship has often been labelled a power pact.

Earlier this year, Babiš dismissed the possibility of his candidacy for president in an interview with tabloid Blesk.

Zeman’s second and last possible five-year mandate will expire in 2023. The constitution does not enable him to seek re-election.

In the latest presidential election in early 2018, Zeman defeated former Academy of Sciences chairman and current senator Jiri Drahos in the runoff vote.

rtj/dr