The president of the Czech Republic, Miloš Zeman, won reelection in late January with 51.5 percent of the vote, narrowly defeating challenger Jiří Drahoš. Zeman secured a far narrower margin than in his first victory, but the new term confirms his legacy as one of the country’s most successful — and divisive — politicians since the 1989 Velvet Revolution.

Like most recent elections in Europe, observers cast the Czech vote as a fight between a populist and a liberal, a characterization that not only worked against any meaningful understanding of the election but also played entirely into Zeman’s hands. Zeman has spent five years establishing himself as a straight-talking man of the people who stands up against the Prague-café elites. Far too many of his opponents decided to engage with, rather than oppose, this narrative.

Zeman’s victory seemed like a foregone conclusion. He’s incredibly popular, despite — or perhaps because of — a number of very public, very embarrassing incidents and his pugilistic, often vulgar, image. Indeed, it was so clear that he would progress to the second round, he barely participated in the first.