Czech lawmakers failed to elect a president in the second round of voting, carried out by open ballot, the speaker of the lower house Miloslav Vlcek said Friday, according to dpa. Neither Klaus nor Svejnar managed to win a majority of present lawmakers in each house, a condition to emerge victorious from the second round of voting. Both candidates - incumbent Vaclav Klaus, 66, and Czech-US economist Jan Svejnar, 55 - are to automatically proceed to the decisive third round of voting. The third candidate in the Friday election, Jana Bobosikova, 43, a Communist last-minute tactical add-on, gave up the race before the first ballot because her chances were non-existent. Frontrunner Klaus is close to re-election as 141 lawmakers backed him, which would land him a victory in a third ballot. A candidate needs to earn a majority of all present lawmakers in the third round. Svejnar though lost 10 votes from his combined score in the second ballot. While he earned 136 in the first round of voting, only 126 lawmakers supported him in the second one. The key third round of voting may be postponed as the Svejnar-camp Greens were trying to bring a missing member of parliament for the last ballot to Prague Castle. The move could provide the Klaus opponents with extra time for negotiations.
