The Czechs choose a new president to succeed Milos Zeman
Czech voters continue to cast their ballots in the presidential elections today, Saturday, to choose a successor to Milos Zeman, to assume the largely ceremonial post.
Populist billionaire Andrej Babis leads an eight-candidate group during two days of voting, which ends Saturday.
Babis, a former prime minister, was acquitted this week of fraud charges, boosting his chances of winning the first round of the presidential election.
If no candidate gets a majority as the polls indicate, the two candidates with the most votes will face off in a run-off in two weeks.
On Monday, a court in Prague acquitted 68-year-old Babis of two million dollar fraud charges related to EU subsidies.
The prosecution can still appeal.
Babish has pleaded not guilty and has repeatedly said the charges against him are politically motivated.
Despite a number of scandals raised against him, Babis still has strong public support, especially among aging voters.
Babis' main rivals include retired general Petr Pavel, 61, former head of the NATO Military Committee, and Danos Nerudova, 44-year-old former university president and economist.
Opinion polls indicate that none of the remaining candidates will run for the second round.
Babis, whose centrist ANU (Yes) party ended up in the opposition after losing the general election in 2021, has the support of Zeman, who shares Eurosceptic views and a habit of using anti-immigrant rhetoric.
Zeman is the first president to be elected by popular vote.
His second and final 5-year term ends in March.
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