Voting has ended in Czechia’s regional and Senate elections

Voting has ended in Czechia’s regional and Senate elections. Polling stations closed at 2pm on Saturday and preliminary results are expected in the early evening.

The turnout in the elections varied in the different regions, from 1 percent to 40 percent of the electorate, according to information provided to the CTK news agency by election commissions.

There was a very low turnout in many of the hardest-hit municipalities, with some exceptions. In the town of Krnov, which was severely damaged by floods, only about a tenth of voters came to cast their ballot. On the other hand, in Opava, which also sustained serious damage, the turnout was as high as 40 percent.

In some places, voter turnout was even higher than at the same time during the last regional elections, while in others it was lower.

In the 2020 regional elections voter turnout was 37.9 percent. In the last Senate elections in 2022, 42.6 percent of voters cast their ballot.

Czechs cast their ballot in elections to regional councils in 13 regions, exempting Prague, and elections to a third of the Senate, which take place every six years.

Parties, movements or coalitions must reach a threshold of five per cent to get seats on regional councils. Within each constituency, seats are allocated by a modified proportional electoral system by the D'Hondt method.

In the Senate elections, 169 candidates are contesting 27 seats in the upper chamber.  A second round of voting in the Senate elections will take place next weekend for contestants who fail to win more that 50 percent of the vote, with the two candidates with the highest number of votes from the first round advancing to the second.

The regional elections, in which the opposition party ANO is seeking to defend its victory from four years ago, are seen as a key test of the party’s popularity ahead of next year’s parliamentary elections.

Meanwhile, the ruling Civic Democratic Party is aiming to retain its position as the strongest faction in the Senate, and defend its three governor posts in the regions.