Proceedings on Friday: hours of deadlock preceded breakthrough

For most of Friday it appeared it wouldn’t come down to a vote at all: the 281 MPs and senators present failed for hours to agree on an actual voting method, as voting can be either public or secret. The deadlock was finally broken shortly after 8 pm on Friday evening. Civic Democrat legislators first failed to pass a motion proposing the presidential ballot be secret, guaranteeing the public vote.

To recap: lawmakers in the election are choosing between 66-year-old Václav Klaus, who has almost twenty years experience in Czech politics and is seeking a second five-year term. His challenger Jan Švejnar is a US-based economist and relative newcomer to the Czech political scene, although he was an advisor to former president Václav Havel in the 1990s. Reasons for the deadlock on the voting method on Friday may vary, but it was widely considered that a secret ballot would favour incumbent Václav Klaus, while an open ballot might provide his opponent Jan Švejnar with an advantage.