Czech president still in hospital as analysts ponder PM’s election defeat

Doubts persist over whether Milo Zeman, Andrej Babi' political ally, will be able to carry out duties

The populist Czech president remained in hospital on Monday as news sank in that Andrej Babi, the billionaire prime minister, had suffered a shattering general election defeat days after the release of the Pandora papers and that Milo Zeman, his main political champion, may be too ill to save him.

Zeman, 77 - whose constitutional powers invest him with a kingmaker's role potentially allowing him to keep Babi in office - remained in Prague's central military hospital a day after being rushed there for emergency treatment for an unspecified chronic illness. Doctors said on Monday that they had stabilised his condition, although doubts persist about his future ability to carry out his duties.