Former general Petr Pavel (57%) wins the presidential election in the Czech Republic, with a clear lead over billionaire former Prime Minister Andrej Babis (43%).
Turnout stood at 69.8% in this second decisive electoral round, which exceeds the already high turnout at the polls in the first round (68.2%), held two weeks ago.
Pavel, with the electoral motto of “returning the country to tranquility and order”, seems to have won 10 of the 14 regions of the Central European country.
His rival, populist tycoon and former prime minister Andrej Babis, led an aggressive campaign, accusing Pavel of wanting to drag the country into war, in the context of the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.
The controversial figure of Babis mobilized the vote against, something that he himself recognized in the final stretch of the campaign, very angry, in which he declared that these elections were a referendum on his person.
Pavel, 61, will be the fourth president of the Czech Republic, a former communist country that has elected its heads of state by popular vote since 2013.
Between the years 1989 and 2008, the country’s president was elected by Parliament.
Pavel follows in office the controversial Social Democrat Milos Zeman, a political ally of Babis, who despite his defeat today will remain the leader of the main opposition party.
