With 99.35 percent of district results in, Drahos conceded defeat even before the final votes were counted in the run-off election round which took place on Friday and Saturday. Some 175 000 votes separated the two contenders.
Zeman’s victory was applauded by Tomio Okamura, leader of the anti-immigration SPD, who shared the podium with Zeman. “It is obvious that there are more and more citizens in Czechia who are able to think for themselves,” he told Czech television. “President Zeman promotes direct democracy, is anti-immigrant, is anti-Islamic, is patriotic and he is a warrior against international terrorism.”
Czech society is divided into the the countryside and the “café society” of Prague, Zeman has maintained.
“This was my final political victory,” Zeman told supporters on Saturday. “And after it, there will be no political defeats. Because, as you well know, according to the constitution the president can serve only two five-year terms, and I definitely do not want to change the constitution.”
Zeman has secured a second term because of his tough stance on immigration and his desire to improve his country’s relations with Russia. His proposals, including a Brexit-style referendum on EU membership, have caused panic in Brussels.
Czechia is one of the most Euroskeptic countries in the EU, with surveys showing that the Czech approval of EU membership at an all-time low.
Zeman’s views have significantly deviated from NATO’s anti-Russian stance. During the campaign accusations that Russia helped fund his campaign were levelled at him. His opponent had been a strong supporter of NATO membership.
Jakub Janda, deputy director of European Values, investigated the president’s alleged links to Russia. He told Politico that at least one-third of the Zeman campaign funding came from undeclared donors, but the president’s entourage has denied Moscow’s influence.
A billboard campaign, paid for by a group called Friends of Milos Zeman, carried the message “Stop immigrants and Drahos! This country is ours.”
Zeman has reaped the benefit of Czech hostility to immigration, especially from Muslim countries, even tough the Czech constitution gives presidents limited executive powers to carry out policy.
Voter turnout on Saturday was over 66 percent, the BBC reported. Zeman can now name the prime minister, sign bills passed by parliament into law, as well as appoint central bank board members and judges.
He has promised to give Prime Minister Andrej Babis, another opportunity to form a government after his minority cabinet lost a confidence vote in parliament last week.
Political analyst Jiri Pehe, director of New York University in Prague and a former adviser to the late Czech President Vaclav Havel, told Politco that Zeman would probably have lost against a more skilled campaigner.