Czech president Vaclav Havel has narrowly won re-election with the bare minimum second-round support after failing in the first round of voting in parliament.

The second-round secret ballot, in which he needed only a simple majority of those present in each chamber, saw 99 deputies and 47 senators vote for Mr Havel.

He needed exactly 99 votes in the lower chamber and 41 votes in the Senate.

"Thank you for the confidence you have expressed by electing me for second time," Mr Havel told legislators after the result was announced.

"When my current term expires on February 2, I'm prepared to take advantage of all my experience to best fulfil my duties in the second - and last term."

Other candidates fall behind

According to Czech constitution, a president may be elected for two terms only.

In the first round, Mr Havel fell 10 short of the 101 votes needed in the 200-seat lower chamber and got two less than the 41 votes needed in the 81-member upper house, the Senate.

Some members of the former government party voted against him because of his recent criticism of its policies. Several opposition Social Democrats also voted against Mr Havel.

However, the other two candidates, Communist Stanislav Fischer and ultra-nationalist Republican Miroslav Sladek, failed by far greater margins in the first ballot and only Mr Havel proceeded to the second round.

Just 26 deputies and five senators voted for Mr Fischer in the first round while Mr Sladek won 22 votes in the lower chamber and one in the Senate.

Sladek watched debate in cell

Vaclav Havel, 61, was nominated by the three parties of the former governing coalition of ex-Premier Vaclav Klaus and the main opposition Social Democrats.

The coalition collapsed late last year over a financing scandal in Mr Klaus's Civic Democratic Party.

Following his criticism of Mr Klaus' government policies, some of the 32 senators from the ex-premier's party indicated they might not vote for Vaclav Havel.

Mr Sladek, 47, head of the extreme nationalist Republicans, is currently under arrest and awaiting trial on charges of inciting hatred because of anti-German remarks. He reportedly watched the debate on television in his prison cell.

Back to top | BBC News Home | BBC Homepage	©