Vladimir Franz wins mock student presidential election

In a mock presidential election held at nearly 450 Czech secondary schools this week, Vladimír Franz received over 40 percent of the vote. Jan Fischer, a favourite in the polls ahead of January’s real presidential election, came in second with some 19 percent of the mock student vote, while Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg finished third with more than 14 percent. Party candidates – Civic Democrat Přemysl Sobotka and Social Democrat Jiří Dienstbier, finished last. Commentators believe the results reflect deep mistrust for political parties in the society. The mock election was organized by the human rights group People in Need to educate students and familiarize them with democratic elections.