Czechs vote in early general elections

Voting is underway on the first day of Czech general elections. Polls across the country opened at 2 PM on Friday, and will close at 10 PM. On Saturday, polling stations will reopen again between 8 AM and 2 PM. Preliminary results are expected some three hours later. The elections were triggered by the fall of the centre-right government of former prime minister Petr Nečas; twenty-three parties and groupings are contesting seats in the 200-strong lower house. Seventeen of them are fielding candidates in all fourteen regions, with the highest number of parties and groupings registered in Prague.

Author: Jan Richter