Voting Underway In Czech Presidential Election

Czech are casting their ballots in a presidential election until 14:00CET tomorrow. The results will be published on Saturday afternoon on a dedicated website. What is at stake?

• By constitutional design, Czech presidency is relatively weak, with the Prime Minister serving as a de facto leader of the executive. However, the two terms of outgoing President Milos Zeman saw continuous testing of the boundaries of presidential authority, with Zeman leveraging his mostly ceremonial prerogatives to exert influence on day-to-day politics.
• Some of the most important powers of the Czech President include:
  • appointing and dismissing the Prime Minister and Ministers
  • convening and dissolving parliament
  • appointing Constitutional Court judges (confirmed by the Senate)
  • appointing Supreme Court judges
  • appointing CNB Bank Board members
  • appointing Supreme Control Office President
  • issuing pardons
  • vetoing legislation (can be overruled by 50% of MPs)
• From the financial market perspective, the most important power of the Czech President is that to nominate members of the central bank's rate-setting panel. Following a major overhaul of the Bank Board's line-up last year, the next opportunity to nominate a new policymaker will come with the expiry of Tomas Holub's term in 2024.