Zeman was an early supporter of Donald Trump in the U. S. election. He’s opposed Muslim immigration to the Czech Republic and wants closer relations with Russia and China.
Milos Zeman, an outspoken immigration critic and admirer of Russia’s Vladimir Putin, has won a second five-year term as president of the Czech Republic.
Zeman defeated political newcomer Jiri Drahos in the central European country’s presidential runoff election that ended Saturday.
Zeman took 51.4 percent of the vote against Drahos’ 48.6 percent, according to the Czech Statistical Office, with turnout at 66.6 percent.
It’s a victory for advocates of closer ties between the Czech Republic and Russia and China. Drahos, 68, a chemist and academic, had advocated improving ties with the European Union and NATO.
Zeman was an early supporter of Donald Trump in the U. S. presidential election.
The 73-year-old Zeman is “probably openly the most anti-immigration and anti-Muslim top politician in Europe,” Jiri Pehe of New York University in Prague told CNN.
