Presidential primaries for the

Czech Social Democratic Party The Czech Social Democratic Party ( cs, Česká strana sociálně demokratická, ČSSD, ) is a social-democratic political party in the Czech Republic. Sitting on the centre-left of the political spectrum and holding pro-European views, it is a ...

were held between 22 October and 25 November 2002 in order to choose the party's candidate for the 2003 presidential election. Miloš Zeman received the highest number of votes. Other candidates were Jaroslav Bureš, Otakar Motejl and Otakar Potůček. Jakub S. Trojan was originally a 5th candidate.

Candidates

Miloš Zeman Miloš Zeman (; born 28 September 1944) is a Czech politician serving as the third and current President of the Czech Republic since 2013. He previously served as the Prime Minister of the Czech Republic from 1998 to 2002. As leader of the Czec ...

, former Prime minister of the Czech Republic and leader of ČSSD *

Otakar Motejl Otakar Motejl (10 September 1932; Prague – 9 May 2010; Brno) was a Czech lawyer and politician. He served as the first ombudsman of the Czech Republic from 2000 until his death in 2010. In 1998–2000 he served as the Minister of Justice. Li ...

, Ombudsman and former Minister of Justice * Jaroslav Bureš, Minister of Justice * Martin Potůček, university professor, public policy analyst and journalist.

Background

Leader of ČSSD

Vladimír Špidla Vladimír Špidla () (born 22 April 1951) is a Czech politician who served as the prime minister of the Czech Republic from July 2002 to August 2004 and as European Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities from Novembe ...

said after 2002 legislative election that party will have its own candidate. It led to speculations that such candidate could be

who retired from politics at the time. Some prominent members of the party expressed their support for Zeman. Zeman's candidature wasn't supported universally. Some politicians such as

Lubomír Zaorálek Lubomír Zaorálek (born 6 September 1956) is a Czech politician, who served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs under Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka from 2014 to 2017, and Minister of Culture under Prime Minister Andrej Babiš from 2019 to 2021. ...

didn't like the possibility and wanted

as party's candidate. Zeman's supporters included

Zdeněk Škromach Zdeněk Škromach (born 31 December 1956) is a Czech politician, who served as the vice-president of the Senate of the Parliament of the Czech Republic The Senate (), literally "Senate of the Parliament of the Czech Republic", is the upper ...

. Špidla's co-worker Součková mentioned that there is 3rd secret candidate. Debate about possible candidates led to speculations that party could hold a primary election to decide. On 9 September 2002, Minister of Justice Jaroslav Bureš announced his candidature. He was offered the candidature by

Stanislav Gross Stanislav Gross (; 30 October 1969 – 16 April 2015) was a Czech lawyer and politician who served as the prime minister of the Czech Republic and leader of the Czech Social Democratic Party from 2004 until 2005 when he resigned as a result of h ...

. Bureš was the first candidate to officially run. ČSSD announced decision to hold a primary on 26 September. Zeman announced his candidature on 30 September 2002. On 1 October 2002 the candidates were Miloš Zeman, Jaroslav Bureš, Otakar Motejl and Rudolf Zahradník. Martin Potůček joined the primaries on 20 October. Zeman Bureš and Motejl were considered the main candidates. Zahradník later withdrawn from primaries. Primaries started on 22 October 2002.

was considered the front-runner. He was leading according to the poll by STEM. Voting ended on 25 November. It was reported at the time that Zeman was leading the poll.

Opinion polls

Results

Result and aftermath

Miloš Zeman received the highest number of votes and won the primaries. However, the results of the vote were not binding and some politicians wanted to nominate Otakar Motejl who came third. Zeman agreed that he will not participate in the first round of voting in the presidential election, with the party selecting Jaroslav Bureš instead. It was planned that Zeman would become the party's candidate in the second round of voting, taking over from Bureš. However, Bureš was surprisingly eliminated in the first round.

Controversy

Primaries were criticised for weak preparations. It was reported on 23 October that voters were able to participate repeatedly and there were falsified votes. Another point of controversy was turnout. ČSSD expected that masses of people would participate but the turnout was much lower.

References

{{Czech Social Democratic Party Presidential Primaries 2002 Social Democratic Party presidential primaries Social Democratic Party presidential primaries Social Democratic Party presidential primaries Primary elections in the Czech Republic Social Democratic Party presidential primaries