Court ruling: Zeman’s anti-migrant election slogan was not illegal

One of President Zeman’s election slogans, suggesting that the victory of his main rival Jiří Drahoš could lead to an influx of migrants into the country, was an oversimplification, but was not in violation of the law, the Czech Constitutional Court ruled on Thursday. It dealt with the issue on the grounds of a complaint from a voter.

The message which appeared on numerous billboards around the country read “Stop migrants and Drahoš! This country is ours! Vote for Zeman”.

Constitutional Court Judge Pavel Rychetsky said the panel had reached a unanimous decision that the statement could not be viewed as a lie, merely a judgment based on Drahoš’ publicly expressed views.