Miloš Zeman (; born 28 September 1944) is a Czech politician serving as the third and current president of the Czech Republic since 8 March 2013. He previously served as Prime Minister of the Czech Republic from 1998 to 2002. As Leader of the Czech Social Democratic Party during the 1990s, he transformed his party into one of the country's major political forces. Zeman was Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies, the lower house of the Czech parliament, from 1996 until he became Prime Minister two years later in 1998.