VVoting has ended in the second round of elections to a third of seats in
the Senate. Voter turnout in the second round was considerable lower than
in the first, with an estimated 16 percent of eligible voters taking part
in the runoffs.
The Civic Democrats have emerged as the biggest winners. Ten of the
party’s 11 candidates secured a seat, bringing the party total in the
81-member Senate to 16.
The party of Mayors and Independents, or STAN, won seven seats, increasing
their overall number of senators to 17 and forming the largest senators’
group in the upper chamber.
The Social Democrats and the ruling ANO party are seen as the biggest
losers in the senatorial elections. The Social Democrats, who were
defending 13 seats in the upper chamber, managed to win just one. ANO has
also secured only one seat, bringing the party total to seven.
The Communists failed to elect a representative in a Senate race for the
first time since the upper chamber of Parliament was formed. Their only
finalist, Milada Halíková lost with the Social Democrat candidate Petr
Vícha in the region of Karviná.