Retired NATO general Petr Pavel on Saturday defeated a billionaire former prime minister in an election runoff to become the fourth president of the Czech Republic.
Pavel, a former paratrooper, won 58.3 percent of votes, while Andrej Babis scored 41.7 percent, according to final results published by the Czech Statistical Office.
“I would like to thank those who voted for me and also those who did not, but came to the polls, because they made it clear they honored democracy and cared about this country,” Pavel said after the results showed his victory.
Photo: AFP
“I can see that values such as truth, dignity, respect and humility have prevailed in this election,” he added.
The 61-year-old Pavel is in March to replace Czech President Milos Zeman, an outspoken and divisive politician who fostered close ties with Moscow before making a U-turn when Russia invaded Ukraine last year.
Turnout in the EU and NATO member country of 10.5 million people was unusually high, topping 70 percent following an acrimonious campaign marked by controversy.
Babis and his family have been targeted by death threats, while Pavel was the victim of a hoax claiming he was dead as disinformation plagued the final campaign.
Pavel said he was ready to start tackling rifts in the society caused by the campaign, recent crises including the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine, and Zeman’s divisive politics.
“This has to change, and you have helped me to take the first step on the path towards this change,” he said.
Babis, who served as Czech prime minister from 2017 to 2021, congratulated Pavel and admitted defeat.
“I would like to wish him to be the president of all citizens of the Czech Republic, to be sensitive to their problems and fight for the interests of the Czech Republic,” he added.
While the role is largely ceremonial, the Czech president names the government, picks the central bank governor and constitutional judges, and serves as commander of the armed forces.
German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said he was looking forward to “deepening the close cooperation” between the two neighbors.
“I am impatiently awaiting a personal meeting, and wish you a lot of strength and success,” he added.
French President Emmanuel Macron wrote on Twitter his congratulations and invited Pavel to Paris.
“Our countries are linked by profoundly European values and by our support to Ukraine,” he added.
Pavel will be the fourth Czech president since the country’s independence following its peaceful split with Slovakia in 1993, four years after former Czechoslovakia shed four decades of totalitarian communist rule.
Slovak President Zuzana Caputova traveled to Prague to congratulate Pavel in person, saying she was happy that “in our region and in Europe, there is a new head of state who honors democratic values”.
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