Former PM wins presidency
Sunday 27 January 2013
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EmailFormer Czech prime minister Milos Zeman won the republic's first directly elected presidential vote at the weekend.
With all votes counted Mr Zeman won 54.8 per cent of the vote, while his conservative opponent Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg took 45.2 per cent.
"I promise that as a president elected in a direct popular vote I will try to be the voice of all citizens," Mr Zeman said in Prague.
Voters had punished Mr Schwarzenberg for the government's hugely unpopular austerity cuts.
"They definitely didn't help me," Mr Schwarzenberg admitted, adding that he would continue as foreign minister.
During Mr Zeman's four years in office beginning in 1998 his government privatised the banking sector and state-owned property.
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