Czech presidential candidate Petr Pavel and his wife Eva Pavlova arrive at his headquarters, during the country's presidential election, in Prague, Czech Republic January 28, 2023. REUTERS/David W Cerny
Petr Pavel, a former head of the Czech army and a pro-Western candidate who supports aid to Ukraine, attempted to defeat billionaire ex-premier Andrej Babis on Saturday as Czechs completed voting for a new president.
The two-day run-voting off’s was completed at 2:00 p.m. (1300 GMT) on Saturday. Results were anticipated to be available within a few hours, with the initial data coming from smaller rural regions where Babis has performed better than in urban areas.
Pavel, a 61-year-old retired general, campaigned as an independent and has the backing of the centre-right government that ousted Babis from power in a 2021 parliamentary election.
Babis, 68, a combative business magnate who had been prime minister since 2017, has sought to attract voters struggling with soaring prices and has vowed to push the government to do more to help them.
Betting firms say Pavel is 10 times more likely to win than Babis, having led final opinion polls by double-digit margins.
Pavel said on Friday after casting his ballot that his motto was decency and cooperation.
“(I would be) a president who will hold office with dignity,” he said, and someone who “will not paint castles in the sky, but will describe reality as it is.”
Czech presidents do not have many day-to-day duties but they pick prime ministers and central bank heads, have a say in foreign policy, are powerful opinion makers, and can push the government on policies.
Pavel has backed keeping the central European country of 10.5 million firmly in the European Union and NATO military alliance, and supports the government’s continued aid to Ukraine since Russia’s invasion last year.
“I believe it will be important to continue to explain to people why it is important to support Ukraine,” he said on Friday.
He favours adopting the euro, a long-dormant topic under numerous governments, and progressive policies such as gay marriage.
A career soldier, Pavel joined the army in Communist times, was decorated with a French military cross for valour during peacekeeping in former Yugoslavia in the 1990s, and later rose to lead the Czech general staff and become chairman of NATO’s military committee for three years before retiring in 2018.
Pavel draws large support in the capital Prague and other cities, while Babis has been more popular in smaller and poorer communities.
“I voted for Mr. Pavel because he is a decent and reasonable man and I think that the young generation has a future with him,” said Abdulai Diop, 60, after casting his vote in Prague.
Babis heads the biggest opposition party in parliament and has attacked Pavel for being the government’s candidate since the two emerged from the first round of the election with around 35% of the vote each.
He has labelled the election as a referendum on himself, saying people should support him if they felt worse off now than under his former government. “I would be their voice,” he said on Friday.
He campaigned on fears of the war in Ukraine spreading, and sought to offer to broker peace talks. He also suggested that Pavel, as a former soldier, could drag the Czechs into a war, a claim Pavel has rejected.
Babis also has the support of outgoing President Milos Zeman, a divisive figure over his 10 years in office who pushed for closer ties with Beijing and – until Russia invaded Ukraine – with Moscow, as well as fringe forces including the pro-Russian Communist Party.
