Petr Pavel at his campaign headquarters in Prague on Saturday, January 28, after the polling stations for the Czech presidential elections were completed. DAVID W. CERNY / Portal
General Petr Pavel, former head of NATO’s military committee and a supporter of military aid to Ukraine, was elected President of the Czech Republic on Saturday, January 28, beating former prime minister and billionaire Andrej Babis to take over Milos Zeman, who had ambiguous connections with Moscow.
Whoever led the polls before the vote won the second round with 58.25% of the vote against 41.75% for Mr. Babis after counting 99.74% of the vote. Turnout in the European Union (EU) and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) member country of 10.5 million people hit 70.3% after a bitter campaign marred by controversy including Ukraine.
“I want to thank those who voted for me and also those who didn’t but did vote because they made it clear that they honor democracy and care about the country. said Mr. Pavel. I see that values such as truth, dignity, respect and humility have won in this election. »
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The campaign between the two rounds was acrimonious, with a spate of misinformation mostly aimed at Mr Pavel and death threats aimed at Mr Babis and his family. Incumbent President Milos Zeman, a controversial politician, had close ties with Russia before turning his back on when Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
Andrei Babis, 68, whose wealth and legal worries have made him a divisive figure, called the vote a “referendum on Babis.” The billionaire has tried to woo voters concerned about the fallout from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and has hinted his opponent could drag the country into that war. The populist MP also said he would not send Czech troops to help Poland or the Baltics as part of NATO’s collective defense – a statement that raised questions abroad and to which he immediately returned.
Former paratrooper and hero of the war in former Yugoslavia
Although his role in the Czech Republic is essentially ceremonial, the head of state assembles the government, elects the central bank governor, constitutional judges and ensures supreme command of the armed forces.
Former elite paratrooper Petr Pavel will be the fourth president of the Czech Republic since it became an independent state after peacefully splitting from Slovakia in 1993, four years after Czechoslovakia abandoned its totalitarian communist regime and left Moscow’s sphere of influence. His predecessors were Vaclav Havel, an anti-communist dissident who ruled the country from 1993-2003, the economist Vaclav Klaus (2003-2013) and Milos Zeman, whose last term expires in March.
At 61, Mr. Pavel is a hero of the war in the former Yugoslavia, in which he notably contributed to the liberation of French soldiers. He then became Chief of the Czech General Staff and from 2015 to 2018 served as Chairman of the NATO Military Committee, the highest post of a military official in the Atlantic Alliance.
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The two rivals had been members of the Communist Party in the 1980s, when Czechoslovakia was under Moscow’s tutelage. But the neatly trimmed, white-haired former paratrooper has now become a strong supporter of his country’s EU and NATO membership.
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He vowed to be an independent president unaffected by party politics, to continue supporting aid to war-torn Ukraine and to support Kiev’s bid to join the EU. “Of course, Ukraine must first meet all the conditions to become a member, such as making progress in the fight against corruption. But I think she has the right to have the same chances that we have had in the past,” he said. Mr. Pavel has also supported same-sex marriages and child adoption by same-sex couples.
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