Presidential polls: Fischer gains from Švejnar, Franz builds ‘protest’ following

The polling agency PPM Factum suggests that presidential candidate Jan Fischer was most aided by the decision of economist Jan Švejnar not to run. Former prime minister Fisher enjoyed a 5.7% rise in support after Mr Švejnar’s announcement in August, and is currently polling at 27.7%, according to the agency. Former Social Democrat prime minister Miloš Zeman is in second place in the survey with 22.7% of the hypothetical vote, followed at a large distance by his former party’s candidate Jiří Dienstbier, with 6.9%. Artist and tattoo aficionado Vladimír Franz, which the pollsters call a protest candidate, has also gained strongly to 6.6% - more than the results for the candidates of the two main governing parties.