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President in hospital after Czech vote

CZECH president Milos Zeman has been rushed to hospital the day after the parliamentary election and at a time when he has a key role in establishing a new government.

Prague’s military hospital confirmed that Zeman was taken there from the presidential chateau in Lany, near Prague.

Zeman’s doctor, who recommended he be hospitalised, is expected to give details of the president’s condition later on Sunday. The president was admitted to hospital last month, on September 14, for what his office later described as a planned examination.

It said CT scans, sonography checks and blood tests carried out by doctors had not revealed any problems or disease that would threaten his life.

The office said the president was dehydrated and slightly exhausted.

He spent four days in the same hospital in 2019 for similar reasons.

Zeman, 77, is a heavy smoker who has suffered from diabetes and neuropathy linked to it. He has trouble walking and has been using a wheelchair.

The Czech presidency is a largely ceremonial post but the president has the right to choose the country’s new prime minister

Yesterday, Zeman met in Lany with his close ally prime minister Andrej Babis.

On Saturday, the centrist ANO movement led by Babis, a populist billionaire, narrowly lost the Czech Republic’s parliamentary election in a surprise development that could mean the end of the Eurosceptic leader’s reign.

Together, a liberal-conservative three-party coalition captured 27.8% of the vote, beating Babis’ ANO (Yes) which won 27.1%.