Yesterday, former PM Milos Zeman has won the Czech Republic’s presidential election – the first time the position has been decided by direct popular vote. He won 55% of votes in the second-round poll, compared to Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg’s 45%. Mr Zeman is seen as a hard-drinking, chain-smoking politician, known for his witty put-downs of opponents. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-21215448
In my photo below, the vote being added to the ballot box is seen at the election room at the Czech Embassy in London, UK. The Czech expats world-wide have by majority voted for Karel Schwarzenberg.

The result is a triumphant return for a man many thought was finished in politics. Ten years ago Mr Zeman was humiliated in his first attempt to become president, says the BBC’s Rob Cameron in Prague – even members of his own party didn’t vote for him. He has spent much of the last decade in retirement at his country cottage, but he returns now to political life with a vengeance. He seems to have won the support of many poorer, older voters from areas of the country that have suffered in the economic downtown. Mr Zeman won 24.2% in the first round poll, with Mr Schwarzenberg winning 23.4%.
Although Czechs are generally disillusioned with politics, they turned out in their droves to choose between the two very different candidates – Mr Zeman, the acerbic former Social Democrat prime minister, and Karel Schwarzenberg, the elderly, aristocratic foreign minister.
The urban elite voted en masse for Mr Schwarzenberg – who was supported by many in the media and had a strong Facebook following, says our correspondent.
A titled prince, 75 years old but wildly popularly amongst young, urban voters, in the early 1990s, he worked as chancellor to the President Vaclav Havel, the leader of the Velvet Revolution that brought down Communist rule in 1989.
For Mr Schwarzenberg’s supporters, this is a bitter defeat. More at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-21210495

The voting booths at the Czech Embassy in London, UK. Photos by Veronika Lukasova