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January 19, 2018 www.intellinews.com I Page 4
Meanwhile Zeman, who had previously said he would give Babis as many chances as he could to form a government, announced last week the requirement that he would need to show he had 101 votes to be renominated. Zeman had mainly backed Babis as a way to win his support in his re-election bid. He would have much less reason to back Babis if he were to lose the presidential election.
Nevertheless Zeman, one of the country’s dominant personalities since the collapse of
communism, still has a significant chance of winning re-election if he is able to mobilise his core voters in villages and small towns, who tend to be older, poorer and less well educated than Drahos’s.
He is expected to now take off the gloves, and try to strike a knock-out against the political novice in the planned TV debates. After refusing to take part in TV debates in the first round, Zeman is now calling for four TV duels to take place, while Drahos has proposed two.
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