After Babiš was initially in the lead, after around 99 percent of polling stations counted, Pavel finally led with 35.21 percent, just ahead of Babiš with 35.17 percent.
In the presidential elections in the Czech Republic, there will be a runoff between former prime minister Andrej Babiš and former chief of staff Petr Pavel in two weeks. In the first round of voting, which ended on Saturday, the two contested a close race. After Babiš was initially in the lead, after around 99 percent of polling stations counted, Pavel finally led with 35.21 percent, just ahead of Babiš with 35.17 percent.
The clock was ticking for the former NATO general as polling stations in the country’s biggest cities, which tend to be skeptical of the populist former prime minister and billionaire businessman Babiš, were counted for the last time.
Voting third favorite Danuše Nerudová finished surprisingly behind in third place. The economist obtained just under 14% of the votes. As expected, the other five candidates fell below the ten percent mark. There was a turnout of around 67 percent.
Pavel is looking forward to the second round
Pavel said in a first comment that he was looking forward to facing Babiš in the second round. “It will be a big challenge and I like challenges,” said the former NATO general. The question now is whether voters would believe the former prime minister’s “empty promises” or whether they would like a change.
Pavel warned that electing the billionaire businessman as president posed a danger of populism and a “democracy veering away from the pro-Western and European course”. The Czech Republic would end up somewhere on the border between West and East, “which would do us a lot of harm,” Pavel said. According to previous polls, the 61-year-old would be more likely to win the second round than Babiš.
The head of the populist ANO party and billionaire Babiš were heads of government in the neighboring country from 2017 to 2021. The controversial businessman narrowly lost last year’s parliamentary elections to the center-right coalition that now governs.
The second round will take place on the 27th and 28th of January. Current President Miloš Zeman’s term ends at the beginning of March.
(APA)