Two former prime ministers, Jan Fischer and Milos Zeman, are the frontrunners according to opinion polls.

BBC: Q&A: Czech presidential election

As Mr Obama left Prague on April 5th, a deal was reached to form a technocratic government led by the country's chief statistician, Jan Fischer.

ECONOMIST: Charlemagne

Czech Prime Minister Jan Fischer issued a statement saying that Obama told him in a Wednesday phone call that the United States would shelve its plans.

CNN: Obama scraps Bush-era missile defense for new plan

Outgoing Prime Minister Jan Fischer took over in May 2009 after the Civic Democrat leader at the time, Mirek Topolanek, was ousted during the Czech Republic's EU presidency.

BBC: Petr Necas in Prague, 28 June 2010

Czech Prime minister Jan Fischer said in a statement that U.S. President Barack Obama told him in a Wednesday phone call that the United States was shelving its plans.

CNN: U.S. scraps missile defense shield plans

At the summit dinner in Brussels, the interim prime minister, Jan Fischer, told colleagues that senators are planning a fresh legal challenge that might delay ratification, to be filed on September 29th.

ECONOMIST: European politics

This may explain why the stand-in Czech prime minister, Jan Fischer, seemed to be trying to square a circle when he said today in Prague that his technocratic government would take his demand for a footnote to the October summit only if they had a promise of no more funny business from the president.

ECONOMIST: European politics