Prague (EFE).- Former general Petr Pavel won the presidential elections in the Czech Republic this Friday and Saturday, with a clear advantage over former billionaire prime minister Andrej Babis.
With close to 90% of the votes counted, the candidate supported by the liberal center-right government coalition obtained 57% of the votes, compared to 43% for his rival.
Turnout stood at 69.8% in this decisive second 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 tranquility and order to the country”, 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.
Fourth President of the Czech Republic
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.
