PRAGUE, October 1 – Novosti. The parties of the ruling coalition, according to preliminary data, retained a majority in the upper house of the Czech parliament – the Senate after the second round of elections of one-third of its members held on Friday-Saturday, Czech TV reported .
“According to preliminary data, the second round of elections of one-third of the Senate brought great success to the parties of the ruling coalition, which strengthened their positions in the upper house of parliament. The ANO opposition movement, led by ex-Prime Minister Andrej Babiš , has already secured a seat in the Senate with one representative who received more than 50% of the votes in his constituency, and 3 more candidates still have chances of success until the end of the vote count. The remaining 24 seats went to candidates from the parties of the ruling coalition and independents. led by Prime Minister Petr Fiala.
The Czech Senate consists of 81 people, while every 6 years one third (27 mandates) of its composition is re-elected. According to the results of the vote in the Jihlava region in the east of the country, Milos Vystrcil retained his seat in the Senate, which, thus, can remain for another 2 years as chairman of the upper house, which is the second most important in the political hierarchy of the country after the country’s president.
Elections to the Senate, as in previous years, this time were also distinguished by low voter turnout. According to preliminary data, about 19% of voters took part in the second round. According to media reports, no serious violations occurred during the voting. Preliminary voting results will be known in a few hours, the Central Election Commission will announce the official results on Monday morning.
