Drahoš lost the second round of the presidential election to his opponent President Miloš Zeman with 48.6% of the vote, but vowed to remain in public life.

In October 2018, he stood for the Czech Senate in the Prague 4 district, winning the election outright in the first round with 52.65% of the vote.

[1][2] Jiří Drahoš was born on 20 February 1949 in Český Těšín to a Czech father originally from Skuteč in Vysočina, and a Polish mother from Jablunkov.

[4] On 13 March 2009, Drahoš was elected President of the Czech Academy of Sciences,[5] defeating Eva Syková.

During his tenure, he successfully opposed 50% budget cuts to the Academy proposed by the governments of Prime Ministers Mirek Topolánek and Jan Fischer as a consequence of the 2008 financial crisis.

[13][14] Drahoš received campaign donations from several influential businessmen, including Dalibor Dědek, Jiří Grygar and Luděk Sekyra.

[20] The two candidates met during a presidential debate at Charles University; Drahoš reflected that the status he posted was "Topolánek-like", to which Topolánek replied that it was written either by "a woman or PR mage".

[22] The incumbent president Miloš Zeman criticized Drahoš and compared his actions to Hillary Clinton's when she lost to Donald Trump.

[30][31] He has called for a "responsible approach" to the landscape and environment and has described human reason, creativity and ingeniousness as the only "renewable resource" of the wealth of the Czech Republic.

[31] Drahoš wants the Czech Republic to play an active role in discussions over the future of the European Union, and wants the country to be a part of the Western world.

In August 2015, Drahoš signed a petition named "scientists against fear and apathy" in opposition to both anti-Islamic radicalism and anti-immigrant populism.

"[37] In 2017, Drahoš rejected the European Union's proposal of compulsory migrant quotas, saying, "there is no successful model of Muslim integration in Europe".