The first day of the initial round of presidential elections in the Czech Republic ended tonight with turnout figures hovering around 50 percent in some places.
Czechs have gone to the polls this Friday, in what is the third direct presidential election, to elect what will be the fourth president of the Czech Republic since its dissolution from Czechoslovakia in 1993.
The new head of state will take Prague Castle in March and succeed the current president, Milos Zeman, who is ineligible for the presidency after two terms.
This first initial round has ended after eight hours of voting and will resume this Saturday between 08.00 and 14.00 (local time).
According to the Czech daily ‘iROZHLAS’, voter turnout at night was around 50 percent in some Czech districts, a much higher figure compared to five years ago.
Thus, in the previous elections, the commissioners reported that about two fifths of the citizens had exercised their right to vote.
The first results of the elections are expected this Saturday afternoon, and if none of the candidates obtains the necessary majority, the two most voted candidates will go to a second round in two weeks.
These elections are expected to be close in an environment of increasing social polarization. A total of eight candidates are running. The electoral process has been marked by the candidacy of former Prime Minister Andrej Babis, who is also one of the main favorites together with the former president of the NATO Military Committee, retired General Petr Pavel.
In addition, Danuse Nerudova, an economist and former university rector, is popular among the younger population. According to polls, Nerudova could spring a surprise and become the first woman to hold the post. Several experts have also pointed out that she has managed to gather support especially after the last televised presidential debate.
COMPUTER ATTACKS The day has been marked by a series of computer attacks to the web pages of Pavel and of the also aspirant Tomás Zima. According to what both candidates have denounced, these are DDoS attacks, a type of threat that tries to collapse a website with malicious traffic.
According to the Czech Cyber Security Office, the attacks have been executed as part of a campaign of the Russian organization NoName05, as reported by the news portal Aktualne.
Pavel himself has denounced what happened on his official Twitter profile, where he shared the news of the cyberattack and lamented that «Russian hackers probably do not want voters to access the website on a crucial day».
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
