Reserve General Petr Pavel won the second round of the presidential election in the Czech Republic this Saturday, taking 57.07% of the vote, according to official data, when 90% of the results are closely scrutinized.
His rival, former prime minister and populist tycoon Andrej Babis, won 42.92% of the vote, according to the results of the count published on the website of the Czech Statistical Office.
In the first round of the elections, two weeks ago, Pavel had won 35.4%, slightly ahead of Babis with 35.0%. He passed the two to the second round, leaving economist Danuse Nerudova in third place with 13.9%.
Although presidential power in the Czech Republic is limited, the head of state appoints the government, elects the governor of the central bank and constitutional judges, and commands the armed forces.
Pavel, 61, a former elite paratrooper, said during the election campaign that he wants to be “a worthy president” of a member state of the European Union and NATO, with a population of 10.5 million.
The president-elect ended his campaign by calling for support for Ukraine, with arms and aid, and an end to the polarization of society, arguing that “cooperation is the only way to solve problems”.
Babis, 68, whose wealth and legal troubles caused extreme positions in the electorate and who even received death threats during the campaign, called the vote a “referendum” on himself.
Outgoing President Milos Zeman, a controversial politician, maintained close ties with Moscow before reversing his policies after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Petr Pavel becomes the fourth president of the Czech Republic since the 1989 Velvet Revolution overthrew communist rule in Czechoslovakia.
Source: DN
