TWO elder statesmen will now face each other in the race to succeed Vaclav Klaus, the famously Eurosceptic Czech president. Milos Zeman, a former prime minister, narrowly beat Karel Schwarzenberg, the current foreign minister, in the first round, with scores of 24.2% and 23.4%, respectively. A run-off will be held on January 25th and 26th.

Mr Zeman had been expected to come first, but Mr Schwarzenberg more than doubled his predicted share. In doing so he edged out the second favourite, Jan Fischer, another former prime minister. Mr Fischer, who was bleeding support in the campaign’s final weeks, ended up in third place with 16.4% of the vote. The Social Democrats’ candidate, Jiri Dienstbier (son of a famous ex-dissident), was the only other to surpass 7%: he got 16.1%.

Some 61.3% of Czech voters cast their ballots in what was their first direct election for president. This came after a constitutional change last year that did away with a convoluted parliamentary process rife with back-room dealing. Even an elected head of state will have limited powers, but he helps to shape public opinion as well as formally appointing prime ministers, judges on the constitutional court and members of the central bank’s board.

Voting around the country was along sharply divided lines. The left-leaning populist Mr Zeman dominated Moravia in the east, as well as northern Bohemia. On the right, Mr Schwarzenberg, an irreverent aristocrat, held sway in a central swathe of the country, with backing also from the educated, urban and rich, as well as from Czech citizens living abroad.

On January 13th the pair appeared together on the main political television show “Questions with Vaclav Moravec”. Mr Schwarzenberg characterised Mr Zeman as a “heavyweight of Czech politics”, before saying that his “political views come from the past” (seen by most as a reference to his role in the murky, insiderish politics of the post-communist transition). Mr Zeman called his opponent a “politician of the present”, a clear attempt to connect him to the current economic stagnation and the government’s unpopular policies of austerity.

As prime minister, Mr Zeman transformed a foundering Social Democratic party into a genuine rival to Mr Klaus and his right-leaning Civic Democrats. He should win the backing of most of Mr Dienstbier’s voters in the second round. Moreover, despite their ideological differences, Mr Klaus has supported him in the past. Yet this alliance of opposites may also serve to reinforce some voters’ scepticism towards both men.

For his part, Mr Schwarzenberg should win over most of those who voted for Mr Fischer, even if the failed candidate himself has refused to support him. Most of the other candidates who lost in the first round have endorsed Mr Schwarzenberg. Fond of his bow ties and his trusty pipe, he was raised in Austria after his family fled Czechoslovakia following the Communist Party takeover. In exile, he campaigned against the communists. After the velvet revolution he returned to Prague to work with the late Vaclav Havel, who became the country’s philosopher-president.

Mr Havel clashed openly with Mr Klaus, particularly over human rights and the European Union. In the run-off election, voters face a choice that has echoes of this earlier one, between an urbane internationalist in Mr Schwarzenberg and an overt populist in Mr Zeman. The momentum is with the former, but the outcome will be close.