The 73-year-old’s politics has invited obvious comparisons with his U.S. counterpart, although he has been on the international political scene far longer. After Trump’s election, he was an early invitee to the White House, being the only European head of state to back Trump as a candidate. “There are many politicians who admired Trump after the elections, when courage is cheap,” Zeman said last year. [...]
In the event though, Zeman ground out a win by hammering the anti-immigration playbook. And his victory was another demonstration of his consummate political skills and proof of the deep division in Czech society that he, more than anyone else, has created and exploited. [...]
Fortified by the win, he appears determined to continue his pugnacious style of governing, particularly his running battle with the media. At the victory celebration, he referred to journalists as “idiots,” and later, according to local media reports, several journalists were manhandled by his bodyguards, and one was physically assaulted. [...]
To win a second five-year term, Zeman had to shrug off questions about his health and accusations that Russia helped fund his election run and was behind a nasty smear campaign against Drahoš, falsely accusing him of pedophilia, collaboration with the former communist secret police and wanting to open Czech borders to mass migration. [...]
However, whether the allegations are true or not, the closeness of Zeman’s victory — 51.36 percent to 48.62 percent — against an opponent with no political experience, suggests that the president is vulnerable and could have been defeated by an opponent with more political savvy.
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