Czech presidential election: a duel between two candidates that everything opposes, or almost
Petr Pavel (left) and Andrej Babis (right) during a debate in Prague on January 25, 2023. AP - Petr David Josek
Text by: RFI Follow
3 mins
The second round of the Czech presidential election will oppose from this Friday Andrej Babis, former Prime Minister, controversial billionaire and accused of populist drift, to Petr Pavel, a former communist who became a soldier and chief of staff.
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On paper,
everything opposes the two candidates
to the succession of Milos Zeman.
Andrej Babis has already been Prime Minister for four years.
He is the fifth richest in the country and his electoral base is located in rural areas and among the country's oldest and poorest inhabitants.
Opposite him, Petr Pavel is a former soldier who has spent his entire career in the army to end up chief of staff, and his voters tend to be in the big cities and among the middle class.
Accused by his detractors of populist drift, like Viktor Orban the Hungarian Prime Minister, Andrej Babis in any case arouses the concern of a large number of political parties, which have rallied to his opponent.
Petr Pavel should therefore benefit from a report of
very favorable votes during this second round.
The former soldier promised if he was elected to "restore order" and the dignity of the presidential office.
A common communist past
Andrej Babis and Petr Pavel, however, have a troubled past in common.
Both are accused of having had links with the intelligence services before the fall of communism.
They were both part of the elite of the communist regime before 1989 and have lackluster files in archives that remain at the center of Czech political debate, 34 years after the Velvet Revolution, reports our correspondent at Prague,
Alexis Rosenzweig
.
"
We have two candidates who have a communist past and that may possibly discourage some voters for this second round
," says Eliska Tomalova of Charles University in Prague, who adds that "
it is clear that Andrej Babis was an agent of the secret police, while Petr Pavel was trained in the military intelligence service
”.
These beginnings of career in the elite of the communist regime, the Czechs know them thanks to the archives of the security services which remain at the center of the debate in Prague, with controversial documents regularly published – during the electoral campaigns, but not only.
"
I lived through that time and I know that, as Vaclav Havel said, three quarters of the nation collaborated more or less, because there was no choice, but this passive collaboration is something other than a real role in the system
,” says documentary filmmaker Jarmila Buzkova, who fled the communist regime in the 1980s.
After narrowly winning the first round, Petr Pavel has taken a considerable lead over Andrej Babis, according to polls published on Sunday and Monday.
Three separate studies carried out by CNN Prima News, the Ipsos agency and the Median agency give him between 58 and 59% of voting intentions.
Although his role is essentially ceremonial, the president appoints the government, chooses the governor of the central bank and the constitutional judges, and assumes supreme command of the armed forces.
The new head of state will have to deal with record inflation in this EU and NATO member country, with 10.5 million inhabitants, as well as considerable public deficits linked to the war. in Ukraine.
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