Miloš Zeman

Born in Kolín in 1944, Zeman joined the Communist Party in 1968 but was expelled two years later for opposing the Warsaw Pact invasion. After the Velvet Revolution in 1989, he rebuilt the Czech Social Democratic Party into a major force and became prime minister in 1998 through a controversial pact with rival Václav Klaus - a deal that drew sharp criticism from President Václav Havel for undermining checks and balances. His government privatized state industries, created new administrative regions, and brought the Czech Republic into NATO in 1999; Zeman cast the final vote authorizing the bombing of Yugoslavia. He won the presidency in 2013, the first chosen by direct election rather than Parliament, and served two terms marked by deepening polarization, frequent clashes with the EU and NATO, and investigations swirling around his inner circle for corruption and mishandling classified material. He left office in 2023, succeeded by Petr Pavel.