Presidential elections were held in the Czech Republic in January 2013, the country's first direct election for the presidency. No candidate received a majority of the votes in the first round on 11–12 January, so a second round runoff election was held on 25–26 January. Nine individuals secured enough signatures or support of parliamentarians to become official candidates for the office. Miloš Zeman of the Party of Civic Rights (SPOZ) and Karel Schwarzenberg of TOP 09 qualified for the second round, which was won by Zeman with 54.8% of the vote, compared to Schwarzenberg's 45.2%. Zeman assumed office in March 2013 after being sworn in.
Background
After the dissolution of Czechoslovakia and the adoption of a new constitution in 1992, the president was indirectly elected by a joint session of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate of the Czech Republic. The possibility of a directly elected president was controversial because of concerns that it could weaken a government under the prime minister. The 2008 presidential election, which narrowly reelected Václav Klaus after several attempts, however was criticized for the appearance of political deal-making and allegations of corruption. Prime Minister Petr Nečas subsequently put the issue of a directly elected president in his three-party coalition agreement when he formed his government in 2010, in part because of demands by the TOP 09 party, and the Public Affairs and Mayors and Independents parties. Several outspoken opponents of the change however came from the Prime Minister's own Civic Democratic Party.
In September 2011, an amendment was submitted to the Chamber of Deputies for a second official reading, during which the Communist Party (KSČM) tried to reject the bill by sending it back into the review process, but the Czech Social Democratic Party (ČSSD), also part of the opposition, did not support the Communists' motion, and allowed the bill to go ahead with certain changes, including limits on presidential power and penal immunity. On 14 December 2011, the Chamber of Deputies passed the constitutional amendment for direct elections by a vote of 159 out of 192. This was then sent to the Senate, which passed the amendment on 8 February 2012 after five hours of debate by a majority of 49 of 75. The Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court, Pavel Rychetský, criticized the bill's method in which a constitutional amendment was in effect added, though without changing the original text of the constitution, and while leaving the election open to legal and constitutional challenges.
In June 2012 an implementation bill for holding the election passed in the Chamber of Deputies, and in July in the Senate. Though constitutional amendments do not require presidential approval, and cannot be vetoed, President Václav Klaus did need to sign or veto the implementation bill; a refusal could have halted the constitutional changes. Klaus opposed the measure, though saying it was a "fatal mistake" as the country was not ready for such a move. He however signed the law on 1 August 2012. The law was scheduled to take effect on 1 October 2012, after which Senate President Milan Štěch was due to set a date for the election, following discussions with the Ministry of the Interior.
The two-day first round was on 11–12 January 2013. However, because no one secured an absolute majority, a run-off round was held on 25–26 January 2013. Candidates were allowed to spend up to Kč40 million in the first round and Kč10 million in the second round. Each candidate had an election committee that manages campaign funding, which should be run through a special account. All anonymous campaigns contributions were banned.
Candidates In order to be a candidate, an individual needs to gather 50,000 signatures from citizens or the support of twenty deputies or ten senators. The candidates were bound to file their applications with the signatures sixty-six days before the election; following which the Interior Ministry verified a sampling of the signatures.
The Civic Democratic Party (ODS) held primary elections in July 2012 to choose their candidate, selecting former president of the Senate Přemysl Sobotka over MEP Evžen Tošenovský. SPOZ, TOP 09, and Sovereignty have their party leaders running for the post. Jan Švejnar, who ran for the presidency in 2008 against Václav Klaus, declined to run in order to support Jan Fischer's candidacy.
Confirmed candidates Candidate name and age,political party Office(s) held DetailsZuzana Roithová ()Christian and Democratic Union – Czechoslovak People's Party Minister of Health (1998)Running with number 1 and with support of 75,066 signatures from public.Jan Fischer ()Independent Prime Minister (2009–2010)Running with number 2 and with support of 77,387 signatures from public.Jana Bobošíková ()Sovereignty – Jana Bobošíková Bloc Member of the European Parliament (2004–2009)Running with number 3 and with support of 50,810 signatures from public.Táňa Fischerová ()Key Movementwith Green Party supportLeader of Key Movement Running with number 4 and with support of 64,961 signatures from public.Přemysl Sobotka ()Civic Democratic Party President of the Senate (2004–2010)Running with number 5 and with support of 51 deputies. Miloš Zeman ()Party of Civic Rights Prime Minister (1998–2002)Running with number 6 and with support of 82,856 signatures from public.Vladimír Franz ()Independent NoneRunning with number 7 and with support of 75,709 signatures from public. Jiří Dienstbier Jr. ()Czech Social Democratic PartySenator (2011–2020)Running with number 8 and with support of 27 senators. Karel Schwarzenberg ()TOP 09 Minister of Foreign Affairs (2007–2009; 2010–2013)Running with number 9 and with support of 38 deputies.
Vladimír Franz appears insignificant in agency surveys but in November he was the obvious favorite of opinion polls of several different popular news servers and media (Aktuálně.cz,Koho byste zvolili prezidentem České republiky?, Aktuálně.cz, 6. 11. 2012 Reflex,Dita Ondrejková: A prezidentem z volby nanečisto se stává... Vladimír Franz!, Reflex.cz, 8. 11. 2012 iDnes.czJan Wirnitzer: Čtenáři vybrali za prezidenta Franze, ve druhém kole získal 56 procent, iDnes.cz, 18. 1. 2012) as well as of so-called "students' elections"Středoškoláci zvolili na Hrad Franze, straničtí kandidáti propadli, iDnes.cz, 12. 12. 2012 jj (Jan Jiřička), hv (Hana Válková) in all regions and all types of secondary schools.Proč zvolili středoškoláci Franze? Ze stávajících poměrů jsou rozčarováni, Novinky.cz, 14. 12. 2012 The current president Klaus expressed fear that his successor would be Franz or Okamura.Zdeňka Trachtová, Jan Wirnitzer: Přímá volba se strašně vymstí, řekl Klaus. Obává se Franze či Okamury, iDnes.cz. 7. 12. 2012
Disqualified candidates
The following list includes the candidates who were disqualified after the Ministry of Interior reviewed their petitions assessing that they failed to meet the quorum of minimum of 50,000 popular signatures or twenty MPs in the Chamber of Deputies, or ten MPs in the Senate.
Candidates Jana Bobošíková, Vladimír Dlouhý, and Tomio Okamura collected more than 50,000 signatures; however, after checking two samples of each petition and reducing the number of signatures according to the error rate, the number fell below the requirement; accordingly, they were not registered as candidates. Along with the action, the ministry stated that many of Bobošíková's alleged signatories were long dead; while in case of Okamura, the ministry found a large number of fictitious signatories. Both candidates appealed the ministry's decision before the Supreme Administrative Court, believing that the ministry had used an incorrect method of recount.
On 13 December 2012, the Supreme Administrative Court ruled on the complaints. It ordered that Bobošíková must be registered as a candidate, and rejected the complaints of Dlouhý and Okamura, as even after correcting the error in computation their number of valid signatures still fails to meet the quorum. Okamura unsuccessfully challenged the verdict at the Constitutional Court.
CandidateSignatures lodgedQuorum fulfillment after recountPartyAffiliation prior to the Velvet RevolutionOccupation27 August 2012PPM Factum Opinion poll6–16 Sep 2012PPM Factum Opinion Poll15 Oct 2012DlouhýVladimír Dlouhý59 16538 687Independent, formerly Civic Democratic Alliance and Civic ForumCommunist Party of CzechoslovakiaEconomist, former Minister of Industry and TradeOkamuraTomio Okamura61 96635 751IndependentNoneEntrepreneur, SenatorSamkováKlára Samková1 076–TOP 09, formerly member of Civic Democratic Party, formerly candidate of the Romany Civic Initiative within Civic Forum–Attorney, former Member of Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Parliament–––CibulkaPetr Cibulka319–The Right BlocDissidentCivic activist–––KesnerJiří Kesner54–Independent–engineer–––SvětničkaKarel Světnička26–Independent–state inspector–––KašnáAnna Kašnáunsuccessfully required parliament support–The Crown of Bohemia (Monarchist party of Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia)– jurist, (wheelchair user)–––HejmováIveta Heimováunsuccessfully required parliament support–Independent–teacher and artist–––HejmováJindřiška Nazarská60–member of Civic Democratic Party–teacher and artist–––HladíkRoman Hladík18–Independent–self-employed–––
Withdrawn candidate Jan Toman from Bechyně filed his own candidature on 6 November but he attached no petition.Výzva k odstranění závad na kandidátní listině – Mgr. et Mgr. Jan Toman, Ministerstvo vnitra ČR, 2012-11-13 He was also the attorney of the candidate Karel Světnička, and Karel Světnička was the attorney of Jan Toman. However, a candidate must not be an attorney of any proposer. Jan Světnička surrendered his own candidature on 22 November and remained the attorney of Karel Světnička.Rozhodnutí o odmítnutí kandidátní listiny nebo o odmítnutí kandidátní listiny, Mgr. et Bc. Karel Světnička, Ministerstvo vnitra ČR, 2012-11-23
Other announced candidates The following list includes some of the people who announced their candidacy but the proposal was not filed finally. Some of them started to collect petition signatures. Ladislav Jakl, Party of Free Citizens, secretary to President Václav Klaus. He won the party's primaries but failed to gather enough signatures. Rut Kolínská, President of the Mother Centres Network Karel Randák, former head of the Czech counter-intelligence Tomáš Vandas, DSSS
Other possible candidates Jan Švejnar a candidate in 2008 presidential election was speculated to be one of possible candidates and he himself admitted that he considers running. He quickly one of the frontrunners according to polls that showed him being the 2nd strongest candidate. His support decreased by the time and he fell to 3rd or 4th place. Švejnar eventually said in September 2012 that he won't run.
Vladimír Remek was offered presidential nomination by Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia. He rejected his own party's offer.
Primaries Civic Democratic Party (ODS)
Civic Democratic Party held primary elections to decide who will become party's candidate. Primaries were held from end of April 2012 to 28 June 2012. Vice-Chairman of Senate Přemysl Sobotka faced MEP Evžen Tošenovský. Sobotka received 61% of votes and won party's nomination. Primaries suffered of low voter turnout.
Czech Social Democratic Party (ČSSD)
Czech Social Democratic Party held primaries in May 2012. The primaries were indirect, with only members of the party's Central Executive Committee able to vote. Jiří Dienstbier Jr. was expected to face Jan Švejnar. Švejnar withdrawn from primaries before voting took place and Dienstbier received the nomination on 19 May 2012.
Party of Free Citizens (Svobodní)