A voter casts her ballot at a polling station in Ricany, the Czech Republic, Sept. 21, 2024. (Photo by Dana Kesnerova/Xinhua)

PRAGUE, Sept. 20 (Xinhua) -- The elections for regional assemblies and one-third of the Senate seats began in the Czech Republic on Friday afternoon.

Over 8,200 candidates are running for the 675 regional council seats and 169 registered candidates are vying for 27 seats in the 81-seat Senate, the upper house of the Czech Parliament.

If a Senate candidate in a given district does not win a majority in the first round, a second round will be held a week later, pitting the two candidates with the most votes against each other.

People will elect regional representatives for four years in 13 regions of the country except for Prague, whose elections are held on a different date. Senators are elected for six years.

Voting is also underway in municipalities in the northeastern and eastern regions of the Czech Republic, which were affected by last weekend's floods.

The main opposition party Action of Dissatisfied Citizens (ANO) is reportedly defending its overall victory in the regions, while the ruling Civic Democrats (ODS) is seeking the most re-election of its candidates in the Senate race.

The elections are two days long and will end at 2 p.m. local time (1200 GMT) on Saturday, with preliminary results expected to be known in the evening of the same day.