New election to be held on Friday

After lawmakers failed to elect a new head of state in the first presidential election on Saturday, the next ballot will take place on Friday, February 15. The date was agreed on by the leaders of the five political parties represented in Parliament and the chairman of the Chamber of Deputies, Miloslav Vlček, who presides over joint sessions of the lower house and the Senate. Both the incumbent Václav Klaus, who gained 139 votes in the final election on Saturday, falling just one vote short of re-election, and challenger Jan Švejnar, have said they will stay in the running.